PLAIN SERMONS, 
 
 CONTRIBUTORS 
 
 "TRACTS FOR THE TIMES." 
 
 ♦' We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. ! 
 
 ** For we are glad when we are weak, and ye ar« strong: and this j 
 aiho we wish, even your perfection." 2 Cor. xiii. 8, 9. ' 
 
 VOL. VI. 
 
 NEW EDITION, 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 FRANCIS & JOHN lllVlNCiTON, 
 BT. Paul's cuubch taeo, and watebloo i'lace. 
 
 I'm, G.v. C)d. 
 
 a-wnK i k-iUlUi.. 
 

 sc<c 
 
 V. 6 
 

PLAIN SERMONS, 
 
 CONTRIBUTORS 
 
 "TRACTS FOR THE TIMES." 
 
 " We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. 
 
 " For we are glad when wo are weak, and ye arc strong: and this also wc wish 
 even your perfection." — 2 CoR. xiii. 8, 9. 
 
 VOL. VI. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 FRANCIS & JOHN RIVINGTON, 
 ST. Paul's church yard, & Waterloo place. 
 
 1844. 
 
LONDON : 
 GILKKRT & RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, 
 
 ST. John's square. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CLXV. The Eternal New Year 1 
 
 CLXVI. The Cure of Wilfulness 9 
 
 CLXVII. The Wise Men following the Star .... 15 
 
 CLXVIII. Apostolical Sympathy 22 
 
 CLXIX. Christ's Purifying Presence 32 
 
 CLXX. The Outcast's Place filled 41 
 
 CLXXI. The hardening of Pharaoh's Heart .... 41) 
 CLXXII. Christ and His Church in a bad World . . 57 
 
 CLXXni. Pressing onward to the Cross 66 
 
 CLXXIV. Saint Mary under the Cross 75 
 
 CLXXV. The Christian Good- Night 84 
 
 CLXXVI. Christian Uprising 92 
 
 CLXXVH. Christ the King of Angels 101 
 
 CLXXVni. One Spirit, many Gifts 109 
 
 CLXXIX. FestivalJoy 117 
 
 CLXXX. Apostolic Generosity in encouraging Goodness 123 
 
 CLXXXI. Self-denying Loyalty to Christ 129 
 
 CLXXXII. Charity quickened by Repentance . . . .135 
 CLXXXin. Profit and Home forsaken for Christ . . .142 
 
 CLXXXI V. Angels waiting on the Church 149 
 
 CLXXXV. How to make much of a little 159 
 
 CLXXXVL Angelical Order and Obedience 165 
 
 CLXXXVH. The Companion of the Saints 172 
 
 CLXXXVIII. Inward Manifestations of Christ . . . . 181 
 CLXXXIX. Praise to God from all Saints 188 
 
IV CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CXC. Christian Behaviour in Harvest 197 
 
 CXCI. St. Paul's Joy in Prison 204 
 
 CXCII. Resignation the School of Piety 212 
 
 CXCIII. God's Threshing, and the Corn of His Floor .219 
 
 CXCIV. Economy a Help to Faith 228 
 
 CXCV. The unspeakable Gift 236 
 
 CXC VI. Past Mercies a Pledge of Mercies to come . . 245 
 
 CXCVII. The Enemies of the Cross 253 
 
 CXCVni. God's Family, a School of Good Works . .261 
 CXCIX. Account to be given of Church Privileges . . 270 
 
 CC. Christian Energy 278 
 
 CCI, The Books opened 286 
 
SERMON CLXV. 
 
 THE ETERNAL NEW YEAR. 
 
 2 St. Peter iii. 14, 15. 
 " Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye 
 may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless. And account 
 that the longsuflfering of our Lord is salvation." 
 
 What are the things which the Apostle says we all are of course 
 looking for ? The fearful circumstances which are to come upon 
 us at the end of all things, the great Day of the Lord, such as 
 they had been described a few verses before : that as " the old 
 world" in the time of Noah, "being overflowed with water, 
 perished," so " the Heavens and the earth which are now, are 
 kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and 
 perdition of ungodly men :" and that " the Day of the Lord will 
 come as a thief in the night ; in the which the Heavens shall pass 
 away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent 
 heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be 
 burned up :" finally, that to us there will be, according to our 
 Lord's promise, " new Heavens and a new Earth, wherein 
 dwelleth righteousness." " These," says the Apostle, " are the 
 things which we look for :" we know very well that matters have 
 not always gone on as they do, nor will hereafter always continue 
 to do so ; we know that all things, while we live, are perpetually 
 changing round us, or seeming to change ; and that we must each 
 of us, before long, undergo that greatest change, Death. 
 
 There is not one of us who is ignorant of these things ; we 
 have been bred up in the expectation of them ; they are quite 
 
 VOL. VI. B 
 
2 THE ETERNAL NEW YEAR. 
 
 familiar to us. Indeed, they are but too familiar : for because we 
 have been told of them so often, and seen so much of them, we 
 are apt some of us to slight even God's own instructions concern- 
 ing these things ; we imagine it may be very well for unlearned 
 people to be so warned over and over, but as for ourselves, we 
 do not think we need it; we seem to know it all very well 
 already. 
 
 And yet all the while, even when we are saying the words of 
 our faith, we can hardly be said really to know and believe it ; to 
 do that, we must first be sincerely practising it, or, at least, 
 sincerely desiring to do so. We talk about the end of all things ; 
 but what is it more than talk, if we set our hearts upon money, or 
 any enjoyment of this world, as though it would last for ever ? 
 Men speak, as knowing that the Heavens and the earth which 
 now are will perish very suddenly, without any notice thereof; 
 they are so well aware of this, that they very soon made it into a 
 proverb : the Day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night. 
 We say this and many more such things; but do we really 
 believe them ? If we did, could we possibly be contented 
 to do any thing displeasing to Him, Who may come into sight 
 the next moment ? and woe is unto us, if He find us with the 
 stain of our evil deeds unrepented of ! 
 
 Here we are come, by His especial mercy, to the end of another 
 year. While many of our brethren and acquaintance, of whom 
 we cannot say that they were in God's sight worse and unworthier 
 than ourselves, have been taken away, and their time of trial 
 shortened. He has still continued to us the time of repentance 
 and amendment. We are not yet lying on the bed of sickness, 
 our hearts struck down and bewildered with pain and fear, with 
 the burden of the sins of many years, like a dead weight, upon 
 our souls, wishing perhaps to repent, but not knowing how. We 
 are not yet in this sad condition, but who knows how soon we 
 may be ? Any one who shall slight the warnings which God's 
 good Providence may visit him with this very day. this very hour, 
 in this very Church, — who knows how soon he may be struck 
 down, lying helpless upon his bed, tossing about with pain and 
 anguish, unable to think or wish distinctly at all, or wishing in 
 vain for tliis hour, for one hour of health again, that he may 
 repent and turn to God eflfectually ? 
 
THE ETERNAL NEW YEAR. 3 
 
 We cannot, indeed we cannot, my brethren, know ourselves, 
 how sinful and careless we have been, without examining our- 
 selves much oftener and in a far more searching way, than we 
 are most of us used to practise. 
 
 For an instance of what I mean, let us now ask ourselves, as in 
 the Presence of Him Whom we cannot deceive. How many times, 
 in the year which is just over, have we seriously had in our 
 thoughts the Great Day, which we all profess to look for ? 
 
 We know how it startles us, if we suddenly wake up in the 
 night, and fancy we hear any one in the house. How often have 
 we pictured to ourselves the unspeakable fear and amaze of that 
 last midnight, when He will come as a thief, without warning, 
 without chance of escape, without possibility of our putting Him 
 off any longer ? 
 
 We know what a very powerful and fearful thing, in the way 
 of God's judgments. Fire is, and what care we are obliged to 
 take daily, lest fearful and sad accidents befal us through it : 
 how many days, in this last year, have we represented to ourselves 
 that final Fire, when the world will burn under our feet ; our 
 treasures, our hopes, our delights, our wonders, all sinking one 
 after another in the flame that will burn up all ; and we ourselves 
 after them, except we have taken warning in time ! We are on 
 the edge of this Fire ; it may break out any moment under us 
 and around us : how many times have we remembered it this last 
 year ? how many sins has the remembrance of it kept us from } 
 how many thoughts has it caused us to have of the vanity of this 
 present world, and the danger of setting our hearts upon it ? 
 
 Too often, it may be, when such thoughts have arisen, in this 
 or in former years, we have quieted them for the time with some 
 blind notion, that as the world has lasted so long, no doubt it 
 will last some time longer ; that as Gou has still continued to us 
 and other sinners life and opportunity of repentance, so we may 
 expect Him to go on sparing us still longer. This is the very deceit 
 of the Evil One : God forbid we should ever fall into it. It is, 
 in fact, the first beginning of such unbelievmg talk as St. Peter 
 describes, where he says, there would be " mockers in the last 
 times, walking after their own ungodly lusts, and saying. Where 
 is the promise of His coming ? for since the Fathers fell asleep, 
 all things continue as they were from the beginning of the crea- 
 
 B 2 
 
4 THE ETERNAL NEW YEAU. 
 
 tion." So, in our wicked and careless moods, we say to our- 
 selves, Where are the threatenings of His anger? it has not yet 
 come upon us, and we will sin on yet a while, in hopes that we 
 shall live to repent, or that He will be more merciful than His 
 Word says, or that in some other way punishment will not 
 overtake us. 
 
 May Almighty God teach us His fear, that we may give up 
 for ever all such profane thoughts, and sincerely consider that 
 God cannot lie : He is not " slack concerning His Promise, as 
 some men count slackness ;" He does not, as certain weak sinners 
 imagine, grow slack and careless concerning His Word spoken, 
 as if He forgot it, and had ceased to care whether we attended to 
 it or no : but " He is longsuffering to usward, not wilUng that any 
 should perish, but that all should come to repentance." He waits 
 long, as the Angel waited with his sword drawn in his hand and 
 stretched out over Jerusalem, to see if men will humble them- 
 selves, and turn from their evil ways, accepting patiently the 
 punishment of their iniquity. It is not that either He or His 
 dreadful judgments are far off, but as He fills Heaven and Earth, 
 and is always quite close to us, though entirely out of our sight ; 
 so the fire of His wrath, the sea of flames which shall consume 
 the world one day, is every day ready to break out, every day 
 close at hand, only kept back by Him in His Mercy, until our day 
 be quite over and His day begin. 
 
 Of all things let us beware, that we abuse not this His long- 
 sufl!"ering, and make it an occasion of going on in sin. Nothing so 
 sure to bring on us an increase of punishment, a manifold scourge 
 hereafter. We may judge of this by what we feel in ourselves. 
 When are people so angry, so sure to punish an offender severely, 
 as when they see that he has been offending in wilful scorn of them, 
 and in mockery of their good nature, which had passed over former 
 offences ? 
 
 On the other hand, see what a blessing appears, in the midst 
 of these awful threatenings, for such as are wise, and either keep 
 their vows, or repent and amend before it is too late. While the 
 world and all things therein are melting from under the feet of 
 the wicked, " We," says the Apostle, " according to His Promise, 
 look for new Heavens and a new Earth, wherein dwelleth right- 
 eousness." As Noah saw the world in greenness and beauty. 
 
THE ETERNAL NEW YEAR. 5 
 
 coming out of the confusion and desolation in which the Flood 
 had left it, so faithful Christians shall see a new world come 
 forth, in glory and blessedness unspeakable, after the fires of the 
 last Day ; a world where " there will be no more death, nor ciy- 
 ing, neither shall there be any more pain ; for the former things 
 will be passed away." It will be a world pure, and holy, and 
 undefiled : righteousness will dwell there and true holiness. There 
 will be no more care : among the many children of Adam that 
 shall be there, the effects of Adam's sin will be entirely done 
 away. There will be no more shrinking, no more hiding our- 
 selves from the presence of Almighty God : His Throne and the 
 Throne of His Son will be there, and "His Servants shall serve 
 Him :" their happiness will be to see His Face, and to know 
 that " His Name is written in their foreheads," that He loves to 
 account them His own, and will do so for ever. 
 
 These, my Christian friends and brethren, are the things that 
 St. Peter says we know before ; fear and love, life and death, 
 blessing and cursing : first, the wicked world perishing in the 
 fires of the wrath of God, then a righteous and holy and glorious 
 world ensuing, the perfection of that kingdom of Heaven, of which 
 we began to be made partakers in our Baptism. Of these two 
 things, all the great changes, which take place in our sight con- 
 tinually, regarding the things of this lower world, are so many 
 figures, and shadows, and pledges. Especially it seems natural, 
 that the coming of a New Year should put us in mind of these 
 things, and assure us more and more of them. 
 
 When we look back on the old year, how completely it is gone 
 for ever, how impossible that the smallest moment of it should 
 return again to all eternity ; will not this help us to imagine, 
 what sort of a glance we shall throw back on our whole course in 
 this world, when we are at last come to the other } How strange 
 will it then seem to us, that any thing so utterly short-lived and 
 worthless, should at all have won away our hearts from the things 
 eternal ! When we look forward to the New Year, how much 
 there seems for us to think of and provide for ; how many hopes, 
 plans, expectations, purposes of doing better in various ways than 
 ever we have yet done : — this is a token from God to us, that He 
 has prepared for us an Eternal New Year, in which none of our 
 hopes will be disappointed, nor our plans come to nought, nor 
 any of our purposes fail of the best fruit. 
 
6 THE ETERNAL NEW YEAR. 
 
 We look back to the seasons of the last year, we remember the 
 bright days of its spring, the glow and fragrance of its summer, 
 the joyfulness and plenty of its autumn, and we think sadly how 
 all has passed away. Its leaves and its flowers are gone, and its 
 fruit will very soon follow ; and this tells us, in a way which we 
 cannot help understanding, of the approaching fate of the very 
 world itself, wherein the most innocent things are so frail and 
 transitory. 
 
 But again we look forward : we see the buds prepared on the 
 trees, the seed we know is in the ground, and in many cases it 
 has already begun to show itself: the days are again beginning to 
 lengthen, and we are encouraged a thousand ways to look on to 
 another year, and to imagine how delightful it will be to watch 
 the spring and summer coming again. All these are so many 
 shadows of the calm, sure, unspeakable joy of heart, which Christ's 
 true and loyal servants feel, when they look in hope beyond the 
 judgment-day, and picture to themselves the new Heaven and 
 the new Earth : the pure River of the Water of Life, and on 
 either side of it the Tree of Life ; green pastures and waters of 
 comfort, not for a time, but for ever. 
 
 Or we may look at the Old and the New Year in rather a 
 different way ; not so much with respect to the earth and the 
 seasons, as with respect to our own hopes and fortunes, our own 
 decay or success in life. Whoever we are, and whatever our line of 
 life, we probably had some hopes, some notions or purposes in 
 our minds, this time last year, which have now departed for ever, 
 and perhaps by this time we wonder that we ever entertained 
 them. We, it is likely, began the year, dreaming of this or that 
 gain, or pleasure, or work, the attainment of which, we now see, 
 was clearly impossible for us ; or, if possible, yet -more likely to 
 do us harm than good. This may well set us upon considering, 
 how all our worldly schemes, all our frail human plans, for doing 
 good even and serving God, will fail in that Day, unable to abide 
 the fire which will try every man's work. Our human plans will 
 fail, but our Divine plans, the counsels for doing good which we 
 may have pursued with single hearts, and in strict obedience to 
 the Loud and His Church — these, by the mercy of God, will 
 endure that flame ; they will be as gold, and silver, and precious 
 stones ; Christ our Loud will wash them in His own Blood, and 
 offer them as a precious gift to His Father; and what Hk, the 
 
THE ETERNAL NEW YEAR. 7 
 
 Great High Priest, offers, will surely be dear and acceptable in 
 God's sight. 
 
 If we have any plans and hopes (as who has not ?) for the year 
 which is now beginning, let us before all things see to it, that 
 they be such as we dare recommend to God in prayer, and 
 seriously beg His blessing upon them : if they will not bear being 
 thought of in His Presence, if they will not bear being mentioned 
 to Him, they must be evil, and had better be put by at once. 
 
 However, supposing them to be good and innocent, our having 
 such thoughts in our minds is a kind of perpetual hint from Him 
 ■who reads our hearts, that He would have us look far onwards, 
 and lay our plans for Eternity. It is His secret whisper, inviting 
 us to lay up treasures, not in Earth, where is corruption and rob- 
 bery, but "in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, 
 nor do thieves break through nor steal." 
 
 Once more : if it sadden and humble us, as well it may, to look 
 back on our vows and good intentions, which seemed last year so 
 fresh and pure, and so soon (too many of them) passed away as 
 in a dream ; and if our hearts well-nigh fail us to think. What if, 
 by-and-by, when the world has passed quite away, all our vows 
 and good purposes shall have passed as fruitlessly with it ? yet 
 have we this great ground of hope and comfort, that God, All- 
 pitying, has yet spared us ; that He has not cast us away as we 
 deserved ; that we see the beginning of another year ; we are 
 again invited to humble ourselves for the sad defects of the vears 
 that are past, and to offer to our Crucified Lord, on our knees, 
 our solemn promises, in Church and at home, of true amendment, 
 and strict watchfulness for the future. 
 
 Only let us see to it, that our holy vows and promises keep 
 possession of our minds, that we forget them not when tempta- 
 tion comes near. Here, again, we may take a lesson from the 
 outward course of the world, from the changes of the seasons. 
 As yet they vary, and have their rounds : but a time we know 
 will soon come, when those changes will be at an end. "The 
 Sun shall then no more go down, neither shall the Moon withdraw 
 itself :" it shall be " one day, known to the Lord." So let our 
 resolutions, before too often broken, now at length become fixed, 
 our prayers attended to, our rules put in practice, our struggles 
 with temptation courageous. Let us settle it in our hearts, everv 
 
8 THE ETERNAL NEW YEAR. 
 
 morning, to remember all that day that Christ is present in our 
 hearts and bodies, and that to indulge evil thoughts is affronting 
 Him to His Face. Every evening let us particularly examine 
 ourselves, how we have kept this rule. Thus, although we must 
 expect abundance of infirmity. He will mortify all wilful sin in us. 
 Thus only may our New year be Happy, and our Lord's long- 
 suffering be glorified by our salvation. 
 
SERMON CLXVI. 
 
 THE CURE OF WILFULNESS. 
 
 Deut. X. 16. 
 " Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked." 
 
 It is a thing much to be observed, that many of the outward and 
 visible signs, which God has ordained His people to use in wor- 
 shipping Him, have somewhat in them to remind us in some 
 way of suffering, affliction, pain, self-denial, death. Thus Sacrifice, 
 which was the great act of solemn worship among the Patriarchs 
 and Jews, was the slaughter of some innocent animal, and the 
 pouring out of its blood before God. Thus the Holy Communion 
 is the remembrance of our Saviour's death, His violent and 
 bitter death. Thus Baptism, the entrance into the Kingdom of 
 Heaven, when performed in that way which the Church in her 
 Prayer Book prefers, is also a memorial of His death and rising 
 again ; of His death, by the burial of the Child, just for a moment, 
 under the water ; of His Resurrection, by the same Child's being 
 immediately lifted out of the water into the minister's arms. It 
 is a memorial of our Lord's death : and it is also a token, pledge, 
 and mean of a real death which the baptized person does at the 
 same time undergo — an inward death unto sin and a new birth 
 unto righteousness ; and it is a token of the sort of life to be led 
 hereafter in this world — a life according to that death ; as St. 
 Paul said, " I die daily :" a life in which a man has continually 
 to keep himself in order, to deny himself many things which he 
 
10 THE CURE OF WILFULNESS. 
 
 would like, and to choose and embrace many things which he 
 naturally dislikes. This is the sort of life of which Holy Baptism 
 is the beginning, and it is signified to us by the very act of 
 baptizing. 
 
 But of aU Church ceremonies, there is none which so distinctly 
 sets before us our call to suffer, as that which has from the 
 beginning always gone along with Baptism -, the signing the 
 newly baptized with the sign of the Cross. The Cross is the 
 very height and depth of all suffering : the very name presently 
 tells us of a Soul exceeding sorrowful even unto death ; of sweat 
 like great drops of blood falling down to the ground ; of a burden 
 too heavy to be borne ; of reproach, scorn, shame, spitting ; of 
 scourging and a crowm of thorns ; of Hands, and Feet, and Side 
 pierced ; of crying with a loud voice, and yielding up the Ghost : 
 all this and more, more than man's heart can understand, comes 
 into a Christian's mind when he hears of the Cross. What, then, 
 can we understand by the Cross marked on us from our very 
 childhood, but that we too are to go on in suffering and self-denial ? 
 that though our Lord's yoke is easy, and His burden light, to 
 such as are renewed by His Spirit, yet in itself it is very bitter, 
 " full," as the Prophet says, " of gall and travail." 
 
 Now such as the baptismal Cross is in the Christian life, such 
 was Circumcision among Goo's ancient people. It was His mark, 
 made for life, in the very flesh of those who belonged to Him, 
 setting them apart, in a manner, for suffering and self-denial. It 
 was a foretaste of the Cross ; and, as such, our Saviour Himself 
 received it. By permitting Himself as on this day to be brought 
 and placed in the Priests' arms, and His Sacred Flesh to be pierced, 
 and Blood shed, — by the pain which His tender infant Body now 
 suffered, — He did, as it were, offer unto His Father the first- 
 fruits of that full harvest of suffering, which was finally to be 
 gathered in upon the Cross. He sanctified our lesser sorrows, 
 mortificatio.is, and vexations, as He was afterwards to sanctify in 
 His agony and passion our more grievous and heart-searching 
 trials : our great disappointments, our shame, want, sickness, and 
 death. Certainly, when we look at His course in this His lower 
 world, beginning with endurance of the sharp circumcising knife, 
 and ending with. My God, My God, Why hast Thou forsaken Me? 
 it does seem strange that we should any of us expect to pass 
 
THE CURE OF WILFULNESS. 11 
 
 through Hfe in ease and quietness, or think it hard if we have 
 not our own way in all things. "The Disciple is not above his 
 Master, nor the Servant above his Lord. It is enough for the 
 Disciple if he be as his Master, and the Servant as his Lord." 
 
 Thus, whether we look to our Lord's own example, or to the 
 sacramental ways which He has ordained, both of old and now, 
 to bring His people near Him, either way we are taught to count 
 them happy which endure ; to consider affliction and trouble as 
 God's seal, set upon those who particularly belong to Him ; and 
 to fear nothing so much as receiving our consolation in this 
 ' world. 
 
 But if this be so, then just in such measure as we are going on 
 prosperously and at ease, have we need to mortify ourselves, and 
 keep our passions in order ; that by our own doing, if so please 
 God, we may provide for ourselves something like that due 
 chastening, which our afflicted brethren really have to endure. 
 This, our self-denial, we must practise in little matters : it should 
 accompany us in our every- day walk, as every Jew bore about 
 with him the mark of Circumcision, visibly impressed on his 
 flesh : as every Christian was continually reminding himself, in 
 old time, by the sign of the Cross, Whose he was, and Whom he 
 served. We must not keep our patience and self-command to be 
 exercised only on great and solemn occasions : we must be con- 
 tinually sacrificing our own wills, as opportunity serves, to the 
 will of others : bearing without notice sights and sounds that 
 annoy us ; setting about this or that task, when we had far rather 
 lie doing something very different ; persevering in it often, when 
 we are thoroughly tired of it ; keeping company for duty's sake, 
 when it would be a great joy to us to be by ourselves : besides all 
 the trifling untoward accidents of life : bodily pain and weakness 
 long continued, and perplexing us often when it does not amount 
 to illness : losing what we value, missing what we desired : dis- 
 appointment in other persons, wilfulness, unkindness, ingratitude, 
 folly, in cases where we least expected it. There is no end, in 
 short, of the many little crosses, which, if quietly borne in a 
 Christian way, will, by God's grace, do the work of affliction, and 
 help to tame our proud wills by little and little. 
 
 I say, tame our proud wills, because Holy Scripture sets forth 
 this as one of the particular objects for which circumcision was 
 
12 THE CURE OF WILFULNESS. 
 
 appointed, that God's people might learn by it, not only to get 
 over what are commonly called the Lusts of the Flesh, but the 
 angry, and envious, and proud feeling also ; as the Text seems 
 especially to hint : Circumcise there/ore the foreskin of your heart, 
 and be no more stiff-necked. As if stubbornness, and obstinacy, 
 and, in one word, wilfulness, (for that is the meaning of a stiff 
 neck,) were to be cured by the same kind of discipline as sensual 
 passions, lust, and greediness. We know what power may be 
 gained over these by duly and prudently mortifying the body. 
 Fasting, for example, tends to cure greediness : when people are 
 used now and then to go without anything to eat, it makes them 
 more moderate and less particular in all their refreshments of 
 that sort. If they can go without, much more can they content 
 themselves with less than they would like, or with what is un- 
 palatable to them : much more can they give up something in 
 this and in other trifling matters, for those who are in want or in 
 sickness. In short, it is not hard to understand how the body, 
 which greatly affects the mind, may be tamed and brought into 
 subjection, by a quiet and discreet method of Fasting, accom- 
 panied, of course, with Alms and Prayer. 
 
 And a little consideration will shew, that the same discipline 
 must do great good to the passions of the soul too. We see that 
 St. Paul reckons among the works of the flesh, not only " adultery, 
 fornication, uncleanness,lasciviousness," but also "hatred, variance, 
 emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, envyings ;" and, in a word, all 
 wilfulness. Any thing, however small, by which the Almighty 
 uses people not to have their own way, even in respect of bodily 
 comfort, is meant by Him to keep down all these bad passions, 
 and not our bodily appetites only. For what are all our passions, 
 left to themselves, but so many wills of our own, set up against or 
 besides the will of God ? And if in any one respect we do from 
 the heart acknowledge the goodness and reasonableness of 
 sacrificing our will to His, how can we quite forget that to do so 
 is equally good and reasonable in every other respect .'' If we 
 abstain from indulging our bodily appetites, for the sake of 
 pleasing God and obtaining His Grace, is there not so far a 
 better chance of our remembering Him, when we are tempted to 
 indulge discontented, unkind, proud thoughts, wilful tempers of 
 any sort ? 
 
THE CURE OF WILFULNESS. 13 
 
 I do not of course mean that this benefit follows upon the mere 
 outward exercise of fasting, but only if a person seta about it 
 religiously, in the fear of God, in desire to draw near to Christ, 
 and in humble obedience to His will, made known in His Gospel 
 and by His Church. Otherwise mere fasting, as well as mere 
 prayer, or mere reading, or mere going to Church, may be turned 
 into a snare of the Devil. But it is not therefore to be omitted, 
 any more than those other holy exercises ; but practised, as I 
 said, in the fear of God : the want of which fear alone it is, which 
 can ever make any person easy in depending on one or other 
 holy duty, so as to leave out the rest. 
 
 Therefore, as we keep under the body in order that it may the 
 better serve the soul, so ought we very carefully to keep under 
 the soul itself, watching and restraining within our hearts, and 
 in our behaviour, even in our chance words, gestures and looks, 
 every movement of the proud and wilful spirit : which indeed is 
 the very thing which the Holy Prophet means, in bidding us 
 circumcise the foreskin of our heart. 
 
 Nor let us rashly imagine, that even when we are directly em- 
 ployed in serving God and doing our duty, we are safe against 
 such wilfulness. Remember, we have a subtle Enemy, who can 
 transform himself into an Angel of light : who persuaded God's 
 own people of old to think, without any manner of question, that 
 when they were killing God's own Apostles, they were doing God 
 service. Certainly, in proportion as we serve God and humbly 
 obey Him, we have a promise of protection against the snares of 
 of the Evil one : yet as long as we are in this world, we dare not 
 expect to be quite safe. We are not safe in reading the Scrip- 
 tures, we are not safe in Prayer, we are not safe in Almsdeeds, 
 we are not safe in Fasting, we are not safe in Sacraments. In 
 each and in all of these, there is room for the proud will of man 
 to set itself up, against the pure and acceptable and perfect will 
 of God. 
 
 Thoughts, for example, such as these, will sometimes come into 
 our minds, in our public and private devotions : " Might not this 
 prayer have been put in better words ? might not this service have 
 been wiselier ordered ? might not this or that rule of the Church 
 have been more discreetly omitted ?" Such thoughts are permitted 
 for our trial, whether at the bottom of all our goodness there be 
 
14 THE CURE OF WILFULNESS. 
 
 not some lurking seed of wilfulness : they are intended indeed for 
 all mischief by the Enemy, but God means them to be subdued 
 by us, and so to make our crown (so be it) surer and brighter. 
 "What are we to do with them, when they come ? 
 
 If they mingle with our devotions, if they interrupt our prayers, 
 we must of course put them down at once, as we would any other 
 worldly disturbance. 
 
 If they make us openly disobedient to any rule of the Church, 
 then surely they cannot be quite right : that surely is a case in 
 which the stiff neck, the wilfulness of the natural man, requires 
 to be subjected even by violence, and brought into captivity. 
 We ought to obey God rather than man : God's plain command 
 of humility and obedience, and not giving offence, rather than 
 the scruples and doubts of our own (perhaps) deceitful hearts : 
 God's voice in His Church, with which He has promised to be, 
 rather than the private opinion or example of this or that good 
 person. 
 
 It is the neglect of this caution which has made so many 
 Heresies and Schisms in the Church, so many mistaken and 
 wrong wavs of setting about God's work. They come of the 
 carnal heart, the wilful mind : and therefore the Apostle reckons 
 seditions and heresies amongst the works of the Flesh : and they 
 must be put down and guarded against in the same way as other 
 works of the Flesh, by using to deny and distrust ourselves in 
 the very first beginnings of every thing ; no more expecting to 
 have our own way all clear and comfortable in the service of 
 God, than in matters of this world ; and making up our minds to 
 obey, though we may not see all the reasons of the command. 
 
 This is good part of what Moses meant, by calling on us to 
 circumcise the foreskin of our heart. Whoever will- really call 
 himself to account, how he has practised this in the year that is 
 past, and will resolve heartily, in the fear of God, to watch and 
 deny his will and mind, as well as his body, in the year that 
 now begins, he will at least have begun that year well : and 
 if he keep his vow, there are sure promises for him, that he 
 will be nearer God at the end of the year ( if he live to 
 see it) than he now is : through Him who beginning this day 
 from Circumcision, and passing by the way of the Cross, is set 
 down at the right hand of Gou. 
 
SERMON CLXVIT. 
 
 THE WISE MEN FOLLOWING THE STAR. 
 
 St. Matthew ii. 2. 
 " We have seen His Star in the East, and are come to worship Him." 
 
 In all the history of our Lord's manifestation on earth, and 
 especially in the account of His childhood, there is a wonderful 
 mixture of openness and reserve. There is a veil over the bright- 
 ness of His Presence, through which He allows Himself to be 
 seen occasionally only, and not by all sorts of persons, but by a 
 few only of a particular class and character. 
 
 Thus, in His birth, how was the unspeakable dignity of the 
 Son of God hidden and clouded over ! His mother, the wife of 
 a poor carpenter of Nazareth ; the chamber, a stable ; the cradle, 
 a manger : yet how wonderful the manifestation of His glory ! 
 Angels coming in brightness from the heavens to announce Him, — 
 a thing which had never been known or thought of before, since, 
 on the birthday of the world itself, " the morning stars sang 
 together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." 
 
 Again, when He was circumcised. He seemed like one among 
 many sinners, having need to be admitted into the Lord's 
 earthly family : but great indeed was the token of His Majesty, 
 in having His Name twice brought by an Angel from heaven, and 
 that the Name Jesus, which declared Him the Saviour of the 
 world. Then He was brought to the Temple, in the usual way, 
 with simple offerings, as any poor man's child might be : but He 
 was received with an outpouring of the Holy Spirit of Pro- 
 
16 THE WISE MEN 
 
 phecy, so many hundred years silent in that place. Still, how- 
 ever, this Spirit was vouchsafed only to quiet and meek persons, 
 and His message spoken of to those only who looked for redemp- 
 tion ; even as before, His birth was made known to the shep- 
 herds only, watchfully doing their duty ; and the secret of the 
 name Jesus, brought from heaven, was known, as far as we can 
 tell, only to St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin. 
 
 The next event in our Lord's childhood is the Epiphany, or 
 visit of the Wise men, which we commemorate this day. And 
 here, surely, we may plainly perceive the same rule or law to 
 have been kept. On the one hand, how clear and glorious the 
 token from heaven ! a new and wonderful star, appearing so far 
 away, and inviting even Gentiles to so great a distance, not 
 merely to see, but even to worship Him : on the other hand, 
 when He is found. He is a meek and lowly babe, resting on His 
 Mother's knees, as any other child might do, in a poor cottage of 
 a humble village. And the immediate consequence of their visit 
 is, that He is forced to fly for His life ; or rather His Mother 
 and Joseph are forced to remove Him by night, as if He were 
 helpless, like all infants, and could do nothing for Himself. 
 They worship Him, owning His Godhead : He flies, confessing 
 Himself a true child of man, as we are. 
 
 Thus the Epiphany, like the other manifestations of our Lord, 
 partly veils and partly discloses His glory. 
 
 As in those other instances. also, the disclosure is made to per- 
 sons of a certain character, and to those only. It is not hard to 
 see what sort of mind these Wise men were in ; how earnest, not 
 only in obtaining what heavenly knowledge they could, but also 
 in obeying what they knew. They lived in a country, and most 
 likely belonged to a profession, in which the observation of the 
 stars was great part of their daily business. And as the shep- 
 herds, when the Angel was sent to them, were watching over 
 their flocks by night, that is, in the honest exercise of their daily 
 calling; so this star was ordered to meet the eyes of these men, 
 so learned in the signs of the heavens. It seems in both cases to 
 signify, that God loves to visit, with His heavenly and spiritual 
 blessings, those whom Hk sees diligent and conscientious in their 
 daily duty. 
 
 Now the star was of course something extraordinary, some- 
 
FOLLOWlNCi THE STAR. 17 
 
 thing difierent from other stars, as indeed the whole course of 
 this history shows it to have heen. There can be httle doubt 
 that it was a glory, a miraculous appearance, sent from heaven 
 for this very purpose. And it might be, the wise men had heard 
 or read of that old prophecy, which mentions that a star should 
 one day rise out of Jacob '. For Balaam, who uttered that pro- 
 phecy fourteen hundred years before, was himself one of the Wise 
 men of the East, and his words might be known and remembered, 
 especially as Moses had set them down. 
 
 However, either by that prophecy, or in some other way, God 
 had made known to these Wise men, when they saw the star in 
 the East, that it was a token of the birth of One who should be 
 King of the Jews, and they set out at once on their long journey 
 to worship Him. The length of the way did not keep them back, 
 nor yet their having to go to Jerusalem, which was at that time 
 thought little of among all the nations of the world. They were 
 of a sort of persons renowned for their wisdom, yet they were not 
 ashamed to ask for guidance of those who were least esteemed in 
 the world, because they knew they were the people of God. 
 
 And God encouraged them : they found the place which they 
 sought. Herod, and the chief Priests and Scribes, enemies of 
 our Lord, and designing to slay Him, told them, however, where 
 to find Him, and directed them to the old prophecy concerning 
 Bethlehem. This was great encouragement ; to find that the 
 Scriptures of God, as interpreted by those whom God Himself 
 had made guardians and expounders of them, guided them on- 
 ward, instead of checking and disappointing them. And it was 
 still greater, even miraculous encouragement, when immediately 
 on their setting out for Bethlehem, the star which they had seen 
 in the East appeared again : and now it disappeared no more, till 
 it " came and stood over where the Young Child was," marking 
 out the very cottage in which the Holy Saviour might be 
 found. 
 
 Thus they could have no doubt : they were quite sure it was 
 He whom they sought. They were as certain as the shepherds, 
 when they had come there, obedient to the voice of the Angel. 
 It moved them not at all that they saw but a little Child, resting 
 on the bosom of a poor Maiden, with an aged man waiting by. 
 ' Nuiiibeis xxiv. 17. 
 
 VOL. VJ. C 
 
18 THE WISE MEN 
 
 Their faith had brought them so far, under direction of their 
 heavenly Guide, and they were not now going to swerve from it, 
 and begin indulging unbelieving thoughts. They fall down 
 at once, and worship the Young Child, and offer Him the very 
 best that they have to give, the treasures and gifts which they 
 had brought with them on purpose, " gold, and frankincense, 
 and myrrh." 
 
 Having thus done, the Wise men receive another warning from 
 God in a dream, which way they should go home; a favour 
 which shewed that He was graciously pleased to accept all they 
 had done hitherto. And having come home, they lost not their 
 faith, but, as ancient tradition relates ^ were ready to receive the 
 preaching of the Gospel from St. Thomas, when he came into 
 that country, some years after the Ascension of our Lord, These 
 Wise men assisted that Apostle in bearing witness to the Cross 
 among their own countrymen in the East. 
 
 Such were the persons who were honoured by our Lord to be 
 the second set of chosen -witnesses, invited by miraculous guidance 
 to see Him in His childhood. Are we not, so far, all of us like 
 them, in that, when children, we too have a sort of Star in the 
 East, to guide us towards the cradle of our Lord ? We are car- 
 ried to Church, we are taught to pray, we learn more or less of 
 Scripture words and histories : God gives us notice, in various 
 ways, of that wonderful Child, who was bom at Bethlehem to be 
 Kino- of the Jews : various things happen, from time to time, 
 which give us a sort of blind indistinct feeling, that there is 
 within our reach, we know not how near us, a great and heavenly 
 Being, could we but feel after Him and find Him. 
 
 Now these notices and feelings, if they are indeed sent by the 
 Most High, as the star was sent to the wise men, will guide us, 
 more or less directly, to Jerusalem, that is to the Holy Church of 
 God, the city set on an hill which cannot be hid. We indeed are 
 in that Church already, by the Almighty's especial favour, ever 
 since the moment of our Baptism. And still as we search after 
 the truth, our thoughts are brought back to the same Church ; 
 and Providence teaches us, as the star guided the Wise men, to go 
 to Jerusalem, the Church and city of God, and ask where the 
 Truth, that is Christ, is to be found. 
 
 » St. Chrysostom, Horn. vi. on St. Matt. § 5. Oxf. Trinslatioii. 
 
FOLLOWING THE STAR. 19 
 
 And the Church, Uke a gracious mother, will be ready at our 
 need. She will guide us, as herself is guided, by Holy Scripture. 
 She will send us to Bethlehem, because it is so written in the 
 Prophets : Bethlehem, which is, being interpreted, the House of 
 Bread, and which therefore is an apt figure of the place where 
 He gives Himself to us, who is " the true Bread which cometh 
 down from heaven, the Bread of God which giveth life unto the 
 world." The Church, in short, being guided by the Scriptures, 
 will send us to the Holy Communion, there to worship and re- 
 ceive Jesus Christ. What have we to do in this world, but to 
 prepare ourselves, and follow that heavenly guidance ? And we 
 are so far rightly preparing ourselves, as we really from our 
 heart are endeavouring to copy the Wise men in their search for 
 the new-born Saviour. 
 
 The Wise men were ready to follow wherever God's providence 
 might lead them, however slight and even doubtful the notices of 
 His will might be. They follow the star, not knowing whither 
 it would take them, much as Abraham had done, from nearly the 
 same country, two thousand years before. So ought it to be 
 enough for us to know the next step in our journey, the next 
 thing God would have us do, with something like tolerable cer- 
 tainty. One step before them, is as much as sinners in a 
 troublous world should expect to see. 
 
 The Wise men did not mind the trouble of their journey to find 
 our Lord. Diy after day they went on, and still the star, as it 
 may appear, or at least some providential sign, shewed them 
 they had still further to go ; and they did not grow weary, nor 
 turn back, nor say, " Why could not we as well have honoured 
 the Young Child at a distance, in the sight of God, who knows 
 our hearts ?" 
 
 This surely may reprove our indolence and want of faith, who 
 are so seldom willing to leave our homes, and go ever so little 
 way, there, where we are sure the Young Child is to be found 
 but rather put up with idle excuses, the more profane because 
 they make a show of respect, of God being in one place as much 
 as in another, and of our being able to serve Him at home as 
 acceptably as in Church. 
 
 Neither, again, did those Wise men shrink from their long 
 journey, nor fear to ask about our Lord, or to go where they 
 
 c 2 
 
20 THE WISE MEN 
 
 heard He was, or to worship when they had found Him, lest tliey 
 should be wondered at, and thought strange, and pointed to as 
 wilfully and fancifully making themselves unlike other people. 
 No such thought, it would appear, came at all into their minds : 
 they just followed the star and the Prophet, whether those who 
 looked on derided them or no. Will it not be a good token 
 of our faith, when we too make up our minds to obey the Church, 
 and serve God as we best may, not regarding what kind of talk 
 people may at first make about it ? 
 
 I say, at first, because in no long time, if we let them alone, 
 they will let us alone. It is but exercising a little courage and 
 perseverance at first, and taking care not to disgrace our pro- 
 fession by wilful sin ; and we shall quickly find leave from the 
 world to serve God regularly in spite of her scorn. 
 
 Further, the Wise men were not ashamed to acknowledge and 
 honour Christ as especially present in a poor cottage, and as a 
 Young Child : neither let us doubt, but take Him at His word 
 when Hb says, " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the 
 least of these, ye have done it unto Me ;" and again, " Whoso- 
 ever shall receive one such little child in My Name, receiveth 
 Me." As ever we desire to find Christ truly in His Sacraments 
 and His Scriptures, be it our care never to forget Him in His 
 poor, if we can relieve them ; or in His little ones, if we can help 
 them to continue His, at least by not doing or saying any thing 
 to corrupt them in the way of bad example. 
 
 The Wise men, being bidden by an Angel not to return to 
 Herod, obeyed, and went back as they might some other way. 
 They did not stumble at the command, though it might seem 
 strange to find so sacred a Person in danger, and His life made 
 to depend on any thing they could do. They did not say, " How 
 is this ? that He should be the Son of God, and yet we must go 
 out of our way to save His life from the tyrant }" But being 
 bidden, at once, without objection, they obey the bidding. It 
 will be a good sign when Christian persons, having found truth, 
 shew themselves worthy of it, by the like obedience to plain 
 commands, without asking questions. 
 
 Lastly, the Wise men grudged not the Holy Child the best and 
 most expensive gifts they could offer, though it were hard to see 
 how some of them, at least, could be of any use to Him. But 
 
FOLLOWING THE STAR. 21 
 
 they were full of adoring love, and a heart where love dwells 
 cannot stop to consider the use of things. Does not this tell us 
 something about our way of serving and honouring Christ in 
 His Churches, and in all that appertains to them, especially in 
 whatever belongs to the services of the Holy Communion ? 
 Ought it not to be all as handsome as we can make it ? Ought 
 we nicely to count the cost, or measure the good done, when we 
 are bringing our oiFerings for such purposes ? Are we used to do 
 so, when we are bringing tokens of affection to those whom we 
 most love and honour on earth ? Did David so behave ? or St. 
 Mary Magdalene ? or these Wise men ? or any of those whom the 
 Bible mentions as honouring God and being honoured by Him ? 
 
 For indeed these Wise men were greatly honoured by Him ; 
 especially if, as was of old believed, they became afterwards dis- 
 ciples of His Apostle, ministers and stewards of His mysteries. 
 Think what a glorious ending, from a beginning in appearance so 
 slight and seemingly accidental, as their observing a particular 
 star, religiously taking it to be from God, and with all per- 
 severance inquiring its import, and following after its course. 
 
 Let any Christian child, or poor person as ignorant as a child, 
 only go on doing his best in silence, God for His part will most 
 surely keep and perform His part of the promise. Let the star, 
 the lesser light you have, guide you to Christ here, that you 
 may after this life have the fruition of His glorious Godhead. 
 
SERMON CLXVIII. 
 
 APOSTOLICAL SYMPATHY. 
 
 PREACHED ON THE CONFERSlOff OF ST. PAUL. 
 
 1 Cor. ix. 22. 
 " 1 am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some." 
 
 St. Paul's day is, in one respect, different from most of the 
 Saints' Days of the holy Church Universal, We keep not only 
 the anniversary of his Martyrdom, which took place the same day 
 with that of St. Peter, but also that of his Conversion to the faith 
 of Christ. 
 
 One reason for this, no doubt, is the special appearance of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ at his conversion ; and, for a like reason, we 
 observe the day of St. John the Baptist's Nativity, not the day of 
 his Martyrdom ; taking that point in the history of both Saints, 
 which marks them out most as especial instruments "for the glory 
 of our Divine Saviour, and brings Him, as it were, nearest to 
 them. 
 
 Another and a very manifest reason, for this distinction in the 
 case of St. Paul, is the knowledge we have of the particular pur- 
 pose, for which God raised him up ; namely, to be the Apostle 
 of the Gentiles, and to bestow by him on the Church very 
 great and remarkable blessings. It has pleased Providence that 
 his example and character should be much more fully set before 
 us, than that of any other Saint of the New Testament. In 
 
APOSTOLICAL SYMPATHY. 23 
 
 him, more than in any other, we are given to see the Church 
 of God, such as she was intended to be in her conflict with 
 the wicked world. I mean the Church of God in action : enduring 
 toils ; overcoming difficulties ; silencing blasphemies ; directing 
 consciences ; winning her way against opposers ; casting down 
 unholy or proud imaginations ; bringing into captivity every 
 thought to the obedience of Jesus Christ. 
 
 For which reason those old writers, who were most likely to 
 know the true meaning of holy Scripture, were of opinion that 
 the tribe of Benjamin, that warlike and active tribe, was intended 
 to be, as among the tribes of Israel, a figure or shadow of St. 
 Paul, and of those who, like him, should be raised up to do great 
 thingrs in the Church, to enlarge her border, and confound her 
 enemies. Benjamin, as Jacob prophesied \ was to "ravin as a 
 wolf: in the morning " he was " to take the prey, and in the eve- 
 ning to divide the spoil," or distribute the food. So St. Paul at 
 first was a persecutor, but in his later age had the office of feed- 
 ing God's people; among the Gentiles especially. 
 
 This, then, was St. Paul's particular calling : to have the care 
 of all the Churches; to preach Christ where He was not yet 
 named ; to win ground from the enemy : to be a man of war in 
 God's cause ; a ruler in His Israel ; a governing, directing per- 
 son, to whom thousands were to look up, and come to ask 
 counsel of him. He had influence far and wide. Accordingly, 
 we find in St. Paul, speaking after the manner of men, the sort of 
 character which the world calls great ; firmness, wisdom, courage, 
 self-denial, the power of leading and guiding others, without 
 those faults and corruptions, which are sure to beset such remark- 
 able persons when left to themselves and to the world. 
 
 Among other things which particularly fitted him to govern and 
 guide the flock of God, is that which is mentioned in the text ; — ■ 
 that he was made all things to all men. This is an expression 
 which might easily be mistaken, and has been so before now : as 
 though St. Paul recommended, by his advice and example, a sort 
 of craft in religious matters, — pretending to agree with men when 
 vou really do not, humouring them in bad ways, concurring with 
 them to a certain length in what you know or fear to be wrong ; 
 
 ' Gen. xlix. 27. 
 
24 APOSTOLICAL SYMPATHY. 
 
 but all the while for their benefit, and with a view of doing, on 
 the whole, more good in the end. It is easy to see and feel how 
 persons may be tempted to this sort of conduct. For example ; 
 what is more common than for Christians, even well-meaning 
 persons, to keep up not merely kindness, but intimate friendships 
 with persons whom they know to be living in fornication, covet- 
 ousness, idolatry, railing, drunkenness, extortion, or any such 
 thing, concerning which persons St. Paul says, "that with such 
 an one we ought not to eat^?" Well, notwithstanding this rule of 
 St. Paul, Christians do often wilfully keep such company ; and if 
 you asked them why, they would say that it was with a view to 
 do more good on the whole : they wink at their present sins, and 
 seem to countenance them, in order to get their affection, and 
 bring them to amendment. Are not many marriages made by 
 this rule, or, at least, defended by this excuse ? and how do they 
 commonly turn out .'' 
 
 This instance may suffice to show what is meant, when we 
 speak of becoming all things to all men as a bad thing, and warn 
 people against it : and it is an error which holy Scripture notices 
 in some very fearful examples : as in the case of Saul, who first 
 intruded on the priests' office, sacrificing without warrant to do 
 so, lest the people should refuse to stay with him^ ; and after- 
 wards spared the cattle of Amalek, contrary to the express word 
 of God, because, as he acknowledged, he " feared the people *." 
 There is also the case of Aaron, who consented to the making and 
 honouring the golden calf, because, as he said, the people were 
 " set on mischief :" that is, I suppose, there was no knowing how 
 much worse they might behave; they might murder him, and cast 
 off God's worship entirely, if they were not indulged for the time 
 in this one wrong desire of theirs. 
 
 A much lighter error, but yet an error of the same kind, was 
 that which St. Paul himself had once to correct in the great 
 Apostle St. Peter, when, rather than give present dissatisfaction 
 to certain Jewish converts which were there, he separated himself 
 from the Gentile Christians ^, and so encouraged a division in the 
 Church, and encouraged also the low notion, that believers were 
 still under the Law of Moses. 
 
 ^ 1 Cor. V. 11. 3 1 Sam. xiii. 11. * Ibid. xv. 2-1. 
 
 '■> Exod. xxxii. 22. " Galut. ii. 11. 
 
APOSTOLICAL SYMPATHY. 25 
 
 In all these cases there was a kind of accommodation practised, 
 such as Holy Scripture evidently blames, though sometimes more 
 and sometimes less. But this of St. Paul in the text is very 
 different ; it is an example, not a warning. And the difference 
 may be put in one word : it is not accommodation which St. 
 Paul encourages, but sympathy. He does not say that he prac- 
 tised what would please others, to win them, but he says, that 
 he always had an eye to them ; he put himself into their place. 
 He thought with himself. Were I a heathen, or a Jew, a young 
 man or an old, an advanced or an imperfect Christian, a rich 
 man or a poor, a master or a servant ; what would my 
 thoughts, and feelings, and fancies be, when such and such holy 
 Truths, or divine Commandments, were made known to me } 
 And according to what his wise and charitable heart, guided 
 by the Holy Spirit, told him, of the needs and feelings of 
 other persons, so he ordered his ways towards them, and his 
 manner of Bpeaking to them, and dealing with them. As he says 
 to the Galatians, he was accustomed to "change his voice ^;" not 
 always to please and soothe them. Sometimes it was quite the 
 other way : as when he smote Elymas with blindness, calling him 
 " the child of the Devil, the enemy of righteousness *." He knew 
 that such fearful words, and the judgment which accompanied 
 them, " not seeing the sun for a season," was just what the case 
 of that unhappy person required. And we may remember, St. 
 Paul himself knew well what were the feelings of a person struck 
 blind, and how such a stroke of God's anger might lead to true 
 repentance. For he himself was blind for three days after his con- 
 version, " and did neither eat nor drink * :" and what he went 
 through in that time, no man knows ; but we know how he 
 served Gud afterwards. 
 
 Thus much to shew how feeling for all men might make a 
 person severe in some cases, no less than indulgent in others. 
 And hence we may learn what to think of the many cases in St. 
 Paul's history, where we find him practising a more indulgent 
 kind of discipline. It was not out of mere good nature, as it is 
 called, much less out of any crafty or unworthy policy ; but it was 
 just putting himself, in each instance, into the place of the other 
 
 ' Gal. iv. 20. « Acts xiii. 10. » Ibid. ix. 9. 
 
26- APOSIOLICAL SYMPATHY. 
 
 persons concerned, and doing as he felt they would wish him to 
 do, if thej'knew what was for their real good. It was, according 
 to his own rule, " pleasing his neighbour," not for the sake of 
 pleasing him, but " for his good," not in this world, but " to 
 edification*." 
 
 To take the instances which the Apostle himself had been 
 enumerating just before the text : " Unto the Jews," first, " I 
 became," says he, "as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews." How 
 was this ? for we know how earnestly St. Paul opposed himself to 
 the Jewish prejudice, that circumcision and keeping the cere- 
 monies of the Law were at all necessary to salvation. How, 
 then, did he become as a Jew to the Jews ? 
 
 Look at that letter of his, in which he most opposes their 
 ceremonies ; look at the Epistle to the Romans, and see how 
 he speaks of them there. " I also am an Israelite." " I have 
 great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart." " I could 
 wish that myself were accursed from Christ, for my brethren ^." 
 Look in the Acts of the Apostles, and see what trouble he took, 
 how he went out of the way, to show them that he reverenced 
 the Mosaical ceremonies, and did not hold them wicked, though 
 he would not have them reckoned part of the Christian Law. He 
 circumcised Timothy', when he might well have had an excuse 
 for not doing it, namely, that his father was a Greek ; thus 
 teaching us by example, that in the matter of any religious 
 ceremony, when it is doubtful what to do, it is better to err 
 on the side of too much reverence, than on the contrary side. 
 Again, when he came to Rome, the first thing he did was to send 
 for the elders of the Jews, and explain to them that he was not in 
 prison for any thing " contrary to the religion and customs of their 
 forefathers," neither had "aught to accuse his nation of*." 
 
 In short, his whole conduct towards his countrymen agreed well 
 with the feeling he expressed, in that vision at Jerusalem, not long 
 after his conversion. When Our Lord appeared to him, and ordered 
 him out of Jerusalem, he clearly felt it a disappointment\ He re- 
 monstrated, if one may say so, with our Saviour, for leave to go 
 on yet a while in the cause which was so near his heart, — the cause 
 
 Rom. XV. 2. - I{om. u. 2. ^ Acts xvi. 2. 
 
 * Ibid, xxviii. 17- ' Ibid. xxii. 17- 
 
APOSTOLICAL SYMPATHY. 27 
 
 of his own countrymen ; and, if need were, to be martyred among 
 them. " Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every 
 synagogue theto that beh'eved on Thee : and when the blood of 
 Thy Martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by and con- 
 senting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew 
 him." As much as to say, (for surely it seems part of his mean- 
 ing,) " If I was so wild in mv unbelief, surely there is hope for 
 them also ; and O that I might be the person to turn them !" 
 
 Thus much for the holy Apostle's especial sympathy with the 
 Jews. As to the Gentiles, them also he mentions just before the 
 text, saying ; "To them which are without law I became as with- 
 out law, that I might gain them that are without law." That is, 
 he put himself in the place of the Gentiles, and said and did what 
 their condition required ; as when, writing to the Corinthians ^, he 
 so greatly slighted human wisdom, which he knew they were 
 inclined to think too much of: also as when, speaking to the Athe- 
 nians, he made use of their own poets, their own altars, their own 
 customs, and the like' ; whereby to bring them to attend to the 
 truth of Christ. But towards the people of Derbe and Lystra, 
 who were in the very act of idolizing himself, he spake with all 
 vehemence, as the case required, seeing it was the only thing 
 which could hinder them from offering sacrifice to him ^. In neither 
 case did he flatter or beguile, or at all encourage them in any thing 
 wrong, no not with a view to greater good hereafter, as we, in our 
 short-sighted self-sufficient plans, are so often tempted to do ; but 
 he used that gift which God gave him, of entering into their 
 minds and feelings, to edify them, whether by soothing or con- 
 tradiction, as might be needed. 
 
 And as it was with him in respect of Jew or Gentile, so also in 
 respect of rich and poor, and the other distinctions of life ; to 
 masters and servants, husbands and wives, in short, to all sorts of 
 people, he speaks as one who had tlie power, by the Divine 
 Spirit which was in him, to feel not only with them but /or them ; 
 — not only what they would like, but what their condition would 
 most require. " Masters, give unto your servants that wliich is 
 just and equal, knowing that you also have a Master in Heaven." 
 
 " 1 Cor, ii. ^ Acts xvii. * Acts xiv. 
 
28 APOSTOLICAL SYMPATHY. 
 
 " Exhort servants to be obedient to their own masters, and to 
 please them well in all things, not purloining, not answering 
 again : but showing all good fidelity." Again, to the rich he 
 says ; " Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not 
 high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches." To the poor, " I 
 have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content : 
 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound." 
 Of young men he says, "Exhort them to be sober-minded;" of 
 the old, " Let them be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in 
 charity, in patience." So thoroughly had the Holy Ghost 
 taught him to enter impartially and affectionately into the 
 condition, the mind, and wants of all men. 
 
 Now I said, that St. Paul was a representative, what we may 
 in some sense call a Type, of the Church or Kingdom of Christ 
 in action and warfare. His teaching seems especially recorded as 
 the completest standard and model of her teaching. May it then 
 be truly said that the Church is made all things to all men ? 
 Surely it may : the mystical Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 animated by His Spirit, has a word of seasonable instruction, and 
 an aid of seasonable grace, for every one, even the meanest, of 
 His Members. Surely there is no person, rich or poor, young or 
 old, good or bad, wise or foolish, for whom the Church, as she 
 speaks in our Prayer Book, has not a word of comfort or censure, 
 of warning or encouragement, in their season. 
 
 But if we desire to see how exactly the Church from the begin- 
 ning practised this charitable consideration of St. Paul, we need 
 only look to the account of the advice given by the Apostles at 
 Jerusalem to St. Paul himself, when he came there after his 
 ministry among the Gentiles ''. They told him their judgment was, 
 that in order to satisfy those Jews who had been- told that he 
 treated the Law with irreverence, he should join in certain cere- 
 monies, whereby it might be understood, that although he would 
 not have the Law forced on the Gentiles, yet he honoured it as 
 God's ordinance, and had no desire to disturb the other Jewish 
 Christians in their conscientious obedience to it. 
 
 In a word, the decision of the Church was, that St. Paul should 
 
 ' Acts xxi. 
 
APOSTOLICAL SYMPATHY. 29 
 
 go as it were out of his way, to convince his brethren in their 
 alarm, that he himself also walked orderly, and kept the Law. 
 So exactly did the whole Church agree in spirit with the great 
 Apostle himself, that one should become " all things to all men, 
 if by any means " one " might save some." 
 
 And as this is the temper of St. Paul himself, and of the Church 
 which he served, so also should it be the temper of each particular 
 Christian, among his own friends and acquaintance, and all whom 
 the Providence of God puts in his way. He will account it a part 
 of charity to become all things to all men : to enter into their 
 notions and feelings, not for any vain fancy of pleasing them and 
 obtaining their good word, but for their profit, if haply by God's 
 mercy he may be permitted to do something towards the salva- 
 tion of a brother. And truly it is a strange power, which God's 
 Holy Spirit gives to faithful self-denying persons, to enter into 
 the thoughts and tempers and passions of those for whom they are 
 concerned, even of those who are most unlike themselves ; guard- 
 ing them by a kind of instinct, against those sins and temptations, 
 which would seem to be furthest from their own feeling and 
 knowledge ; as God and good Angels guard them, knowing, and 
 in a manner feeling for the sinner, without any sort of communion 
 in the sin. It ought to be an awful thought to any misled and 
 guilty person, when he perceives, as a little observation most 
 likely will cause him to perceive, that the best and purest souls 
 are aware of the dangerousness of the sins to which his secret heart 
 is inclined, — are aware of it, if not in his case, yet in some others. 
 I say, it is an awful and serious thing, when any of us observe 
 this : it ought to bring home to our minds this conviction. That 
 the high invisible Spirits who are watching around us, and yet 
 more the Father of all spirits, both know our secret sins more 
 perfectly, and hate them more entirely, than our good and 
 thoughtful friends either know or hate the worst things, which 
 we perceive them instinctively shuddering at and guarding 
 against. 
 
 Thus the presence of a good man, and the seeing him careful 
 to give no occasion of offence, in that very kind, perhaps, to 
 which you know yourself inclined : this is a silent token of the 
 immediate presence and future judgment of the Son of God with 
 His holy Angels. How could God honour a frail earth-born 
 
30 APOSTOLICAL SYMPATHY. 
 
 sinner more, than to make him thus helpful in saA'ing a soul 
 from death ? 
 
 Once more, very hriefly : if it be asked, what is the way by 
 which frail imperfect men may be fitted and enabled to understand 
 the thoughts of the wicked, so as to perceive their tendency, and 
 to pray and strive against them : the answer is, we must be very 
 single in our aims, — not looking, much less turning, back, after 
 we have once given in our names to Jesus Christ, to be His 
 soldiers and servants. Too late, alas ! it is for most of us to 
 think of resembling the Apostle after his Baptism, when, as he 
 tells us, " he knew nothing of himself ;" — he was not conscious of 
 any wilful sin, to be a drawback on the completeness of God's 
 blessing : and so going on with an untroubled and sincere mind, 
 he was better able to discern and understand what his people were 
 each of them really about : God's Spirit was more ready to help 
 him ; and his precautions for his neighbour's good, like those of 
 good Angels, were more likely to be crowned with success. The 
 secret, in a word, of St. Paul's discerning of spirits, was his being 
 pure in heart. For of the pure in heart our Lord promises, 
 " they shall see God," — see Him present in all things, enlighten- 
 ing them in all their duty, both to Himself and to their brethren. 
 
 For very charity's sake then, as well as for fear of the dreadful 
 Judgment, let us strive to keep our hearts clean, to root out with 
 abhorrence the first slight growths of bad desire. Else, however 
 goodnatured we may seem to ourselves, and however useful out- 
 wardly to others, in the great and eternal charity, that of saving 
 immortal souls, we must not expect to have any part. For when 
 those who are wilfully impure try to help others to Heaven, what 
 is it but the blind leading the blind .'' the end of which our Lord 
 has told us. Let us remember the prayer of the Psalmist, hum- 
 bled to the dust by the sense of his great transgression : " Create 
 in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 
 O give me the comfort of thy help again, and stablish me with 
 thy free Spirit. Then " (and not till then) " shall I teach Thy 
 ways unto the wicked, and sinners shall be converted unto thee." 
 
 Let us remember also, that even this great Saint had his 
 exercises of voluntary self-denial, his regular fastings and morti- 
 fications to go through, in order to keep the Grace given him. 
 " I keep under my body," says he ; I punish it, I deal roughly 
 
APOSTOLICAL SYMPATHY. 31 
 
 with it, I bring it into subjection, I train it as I would a stubborn 
 slave ; " lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I 
 myself should be a castaway *." 
 
 " If St. Paul speak thus, how much more we !" So exclaims 
 an ancient writer : and so, I suppose, we must all feel. God give 
 us grace to act accordingly ! 
 
 9 1 Cor. ix. 27. 
 
SERMON CLXIX. 
 
 CHRIST'S PURIFYING PRESENCE. 
 
 PREACHED ON THE PURIFICATION OF ST. MARY THE VIRGIN. 
 
 Malachi iii. 2. 
 
 " Who may abide the day of His comin;;? and who shall stand when He ap- 
 peareth ? for He is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' sope." 
 
 These words, undoubtedly, at first hearing, carry the mind for- 
 ward to the great and dreadful Day. As we read or hear them, 
 we naturally think of the God of all purity, coming down from 
 Heaven with that searching fire, which He has assured us He 
 will employ, to try and prove " every man's work, of what sort it 
 is." We think of our own dread, and anguish, and sinking of 
 spirit, should we be found at that day unprepared, — impure in the 
 sight of Him, Who, as St. Paul speaks, " is quick and powerful, 
 and sharper than any two-edged sword, and Who pierceth even 
 to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and of the joints 
 and marrow, and is a Discerner of the thoughts and intents of 
 the heart :" Whose fires, therefore, have power, not only to 
 waste our living bodies, but to enter into our very souls. 
 
 What if we, too, after all that has been done to purge us, 
 should turn out mere dross, unpurified, ungodly, as we were born in 
 the earth, or worse, — how shall we be able to stand that Refiner's 
 fire? 
 
 Again ; it is said also, that our Loud at His coming shall be 
 like " fullers' sope :" sparing no kind of filthiness ; utterly cleans- 
 ing and whitening all that is washed with it. It is a parable, 
 made homely and familiar on purpose, that we may throughly 
 understand it, and very often be put in remembrance of it. It is 
 
Christ's purifying presence. 33 
 
 intended to set us on thinking, What if we and our doings should 
 be found stains on the white vesture of the Church, spots in our 
 Lord's feast of charity ? in such a case we see by this verse how 
 speedy and how final our judgment will be. The Lord will endure 
 us no longer, but will cast us ofi* from Himself, and from His holy 
 Body, the Church, which cannot be taken up to Heaven until it 
 is clean, and cannot be clean while any thing impure, sinful, or 
 disobedient abides in it. 
 
 Undoubtedly, therefore, we do well, reading the words of the 
 Prophet in the text, to remember with awe the day, when He 
 will come to be our Judge : yet those words may be also not ill 
 understood of our Saviour's coming near a man, or near His 
 Church, in any way. 
 
 God never reveals Himself as closely approaching sinners, 
 without putting them to proof and trial, more or less resembling 
 that by which metals are tried in the fire. This was more espe- 
 cially shown, when He became Incarnate, and came so very near 
 our sinful nature, as actually to take it upon Him. The Human 
 Nature in Him became, as it were by the touch of His Godhead, 
 throughly and entirely purged from all dross of sin, of corrupt 
 desire and weakness. From the very birth He was quite pure, 
 because, though He was the Son of Mary, He was also the Son 
 of God, and it is impossible for God to sin, or have fellowship 
 with sin. 
 
 Therefore, even in that day of His humiliation, those who knew 
 or felt Him to be the Son of God, and themselves sinners, 
 trembled before Him, and would fain have got away from His 
 Presence. They could not " abide the day of His coming ;" they 
 could not " stand when He appeared." The devils cried out, 
 " Let us alone :" " we beseech Thee, torment us not." A whole 
 city, at one time, " besought Him to depart out of their coasts." 
 St. Peter himself, overpowered by the sense of His Majesty, fell 
 down at His knees, and besought Him, " Depart from me, for I 
 am a sinful man, O Lord." This was in the devils the fear of 
 direct punishment : not so, I should think, only nor chiefly, in 
 the others. It might rather be their overwhelming awe, at find- 
 ing the Eye of Purity fixed on them : they were dazzled, as the 
 sight is by the sun, which by its beams seems to enter in, and 
 mingle with the very substance of the eye. 
 
 VOL. VI. D 
 
34 chuist's purifying presence. 
 
 That the Prophet in the text meant this kind of continued 
 Presence, and not simply Christ's final coming, and the fire of 
 the last day, is the more probable for two reasons : first, that he 
 connects this purifying Presence of our Lord with the sending of 
 His message to prepare the way before Him, which, as we know 
 by the New Testament, related to the coming of St. John the 
 Baptist. Secondly, he speaks of Him not as a Destroyer but as a 
 Refiner, a Refiner especially of the Priests, the sons of Levi, who 
 should thenceforth " oflfer to the Lord an offering in righteous- 
 ness." This seems to tell us of some unspeakable mercy of His, 
 to temper, as it were, the natural effects (so to call them) of His 
 Purity coming in contact with us sinners, so as that He may be 
 in us, and with us, a fire not to consume, but to refine. Such 
 was His veiling Himself, as He did at His first coming. We 
 could not have seen His face, His Divine Nature, openly, and 
 lived ; but we are so far favoured, like Moses, that we are per- 
 mitted to see His back parts, the outskirts of His great glory, 
 shrouded by the curtain of His flesh. This we see, and to This 
 we are brought near, and with This we even communicate ; and 
 so is fulfilled in every faithful soul, that which Moses saw typified 
 in the bush ; " the Glory of the Lord burned there, and it was 
 not consumed," The God of Purity abides in man's nature, and 
 it is not destroyed, but purified. 
 
 The course of the Church Services for to-day leads us to con- 
 sider our Lord and Saviour in this particular character, as a 
 Refiner and Purifier of men, both by the Prophecy in the text, 
 which connects His first coming to the Temple with His purpose 
 of cleansing God's people ; by the ceremonv itself, in which our 
 Lord and his Blessed Mother took part, as on this day ; and by 
 the sort of persons whom He graciously admitted to bear a part 
 in that ceremony, and to be in attendance on Him, on this His 
 first solemn entrance into His holy place. 
 
 First, the Prophecy is express. "The Lord shall suddenly 
 come to His Temple, even the Messenger," or Angel, " of the 
 Covenant ; but who may abide the day of His coming ? and who 
 shall stand when He appeareth ? for He is like a refiner's 6re, 
 and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He shall 
 purify the sons of Levi, that they may offer to the Lord an 
 offering in righteousness." 
 
Christ's purifying presence. 35 
 
 Here it is plain, that in some way or other, the first coming of 
 the Lord to His new Temple — new when Malachi wrote — should 
 be connected with some great purification, which was to take 
 place in His Church, the consequence of which would be, that He 
 would be fully reconciled to His fallen people. " Then shall the 
 ofierings of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as 
 in the days of old, and as in former years." 
 
 Next, consider the ceremony itself of the Purification. It 
 consisted, we know, of two parts. First, the Blessed Virgin 
 Mother brought to the Temple door a pair of turtle doves or two 
 young pigeons, the one for a burnt-offering, which was to be 
 destroyed by fire ; as an acknowledgment of what sinners 
 deserve at the hands of the Almighty, and how entirely they 
 are bound to yield themselves up to any punishment which 
 He in His just judgment shall ordain. The other dove or pigeon 
 was, in like manner, to be killed and ofi'ered before the Lord, 
 but instead of its being all consumed by fire, it was to be eaten 
 by the priest or the person sacrificing ; by which law of the 
 sin-ofi'ering, I suppose, God intended to foreshew the way of 
 communion, which He would one day appoint ; that Jesus 
 Christ, the true Sin-offering, should not only die for us, 
 but also be our spiritual food and sustenance in His most holy 
 Sacrament. 
 
 Now the woman who after childbirth offered up this sin- 
 offering, did thereby acknowledge the stain of sin, which cleaves 
 inseparably to the conception and birth of all children, descended 
 from Adam and Eve in the ordinary way, according to the 
 Psalmist's confession, " Behold, I was shapen in wickedness, and 
 in sin hath my mother conceived me." 
 
 Again : she acknowledged that her only hope of purification, 
 from this or any other sinful stain, — her only chance of coming be- 
 fore the Lord and treading His courts without sin, — depended on 
 a pure Offering, Whose Blood was to be poured out before the 
 Lord, and of Whose Flesh the worshippers themselves were to 
 partake at the hands of God's priests. That is, whether the 
 person so sacrificing understood as much herself or no, she did in 
 effect acknowledge, that her chance of acceptance lay in the Blood 
 of Christ, and in communion with Him. Thus our Lord was 
 foreshown as the Great Purifier of the Church, both by His Blood 
 
 D 2 
 
36 Christ's puhifying presence. 
 
 sprinkled thereon, and by His holy Flesh, whereof we were to 
 communicate. 
 
 But there was also another ceremony to be performed by the 
 newly-delivered mother, to which the offering for herself was, as 
 it seems, but introductory. Supposing her to be a mother for the 
 first time, as was now the case with the Holy Virgin, she was to 
 acknowledge her child holy to the Lord, by bringing him to 
 Jerusalem, God's own place, there to present him to the Lord. 
 For from the time when the people came out of Egypt, God had 
 declared the first-born of the Israelites to be every one holy to 
 Himself, in memory of that great deliverance which He wrought 
 by smiting the first-born of the Egyptians, and saving those of the 
 Israelites. From that day forward, every male child that opened 
 the womb was holy to the Lord, and was to be offered before 
 Him, and redeemed at a certain rate. 
 
 It is not hard to see the meaning of this law, what it taught 
 God's people in elder times, and what it ought to teach us now. 
 What so precious to a father or mother, as their first-born male 
 child? By offering him, then, to Almighty God, they acknow- 
 ledged themselves bound to sacrifice to Him whatever they most 
 valued and loved most dearly. It was in action the same as the 
 words of David, " I will not offer a sacrifice to the Lord of that 
 which doth cost me nothing." It is a plain lesson to all who 
 would come near God worthily, that they can only do so by 
 denying themselves. 
 
 But of this I shall have to say a word presently, when I have 
 just pointed out what there was peculiar in the Virgin's offering 
 to-day, as compared with all other sacrifices of the same kind, 
 which have ever been offered either before or since. 
 
 The other Israelitish mothers offered, in acknowledgment and 
 expiation of the sin which they had communicated to the infant 
 newly-born. But the Holy Mother of our Lord needed not to 
 make any such confession. Her offspring was pure and untainted, 
 and had no occasion to be expiated. What are we, then, to 
 understand by her sacrifice, over and above its being an expres- 
 sion of great humility and obedience ? Surely we cannot be 
 wrong in understanding this, that by it God's Providence did, in 
 effect, place her at the head of all Christian mothers, who from 
 time to time should come to offer the solemn and joyful sacrifice 
 
Christ's purifying presence. 37 
 
 of thanksgiving, for deliverance from the great pain and peril of 
 childbirth, and for the blessing of a new-born infant. Even as in 
 holy Baptism, the Minister, receiving the child from the parent or 
 nurse, is a token, apt, and intended to remind us, of our Saviour 
 taking up the infants in His arms, to lay His hands on them and 
 bless them ; so each woman who comes to kneel at God's altar, 
 with her thank-offering, according to the order of the Church, is 
 a visible token and memorial of the Blessed Virgin, the chosen 
 emblem of the Church, and, in a certain sense, the mother of all 
 God's children on earth, offering up her sacrifice, not of expiation, 
 (for there was no sin to expiate,) but of thanksgiving. 
 
 On such occasions it would be a good thing, a devout, as well 
 as a joyful and pleasant thought, if Christian mothers and their 
 friends would call up in their minds that sacred moment, when 
 the Holy Family brought their acknowledgment to the Father, 
 for the birth of the Holy Child Jesus. They would do well not 
 to think themselves alone, but to feel sure that in spirit and inten- 
 tion the whole Church is giving thanks with them. What a pity 
 it is, if any forfeit the blessing and comfort of such thoughts as 
 these, by coming lightly and of mere custom ; by considering 
 little, and soon forgetting ! 
 
 Again : the offering of the Blessed Virgin differed infinitely 
 from all others, in the worth of the First-born, whom she pre- 
 sented to her God. The rest could only say, " Of Thine own 
 have we given Thee :" but she could say, " I give Thee, O Lord, 
 Thyself." But the thought, like all other thoughts belonging 
 to this mysterious relation of the Son of God to His Virgin 
 Mother, is too transporting, too high, for our words and under- 
 standings both. Thus much, however, we may perhaps with 
 reason believe, that her sacrifice was the top of all sacrifices, 
 which any but the Eternal High Priest Himself could offer, and 
 that parents especially may, in remembrance of it, encourage 
 themselves in parting with their children for God's sake. 
 
 And here we come back to the great practical lesson, which the 
 whole of this sacred and solemn transaction was meant to teach us 
 and all Christians. Those who would serve God in His Temple 
 worthily, must be purified by Communion with His Son : and 
 this Communion is not in such sort God's gift, that we are to do 
 
38 Christ's purifying presence. 
 
 nothing towards it ourselves. Our Lord has given us to under- 
 stand, that some are fit for the Kingdom of God ; some go into 
 it before others. Who are they ? We may know by observing 
 the kind of persons, whom God's special Providence assembled 
 together in His Temple, to wait on His first-born Son, on His 
 solemn entry and presentation therein. The persons found able 
 to abide the day of His coming, the souls who could stand upright 
 when He appeared, were such as His pure and blessed Mother, 
 presenting her very best to Him who gave it, with a willing 
 heart : a heart not the less willing and devout, because she was 
 given to understand that some secret of calamity and sore trial 
 was hereafter to be revealed to her, as the price of the mighty 
 and unspeakable blessing she v/as receiving. " A sword" was to 
 "pierce through her own soul also." The Holy Family was not 
 to be a family of mere peace and quiet enjoyment, but rather out 
 of it was to go forth the greatest division and disturbance that 
 Israel had yet seen : the Divine Child, its hope and glory, was 
 to be a sign spoken against. Thus the very act of most joyful 
 thanksgiving was tempered, in the Holy Virgin's case, with a 
 strong effort of submission and self-denial. W^hile she felt her- 
 self most favoured of the children of Adam, she was made to feel 
 also, that more would be required of her in the way of self-denial, 
 than could be required of any other. So it is always, and with 
 all. The greater God's mercies, spiritual or temporal, the more 
 entirely must we sacrifice ourselves, deny ourselves the present 
 enjoyment of them, if we seek to make the most of them as they 
 really are. 
 
 Mark again who those were, who waited round on this day, and 
 were the chosen witnesses of the Lord's coming, thus for the 
 first time, to His Temple. 
 
 There was Joseph, His Mother's husband, a good and just 
 man, whose praise is in the Holy Gospel, for considerate dealing 
 with those whom he supposed to be in error, for exact obedience 
 to God's commands, whether he learned them out of the Scrip- 
 tures, or understood them by dream or message from Heaven ; 
 and of whom the Church has ever believed, that he lived as a 
 brother with the Blessed Virgin, from honour and reverence of the 
 Incarnation of our Lord. 
 
CHRIST S PURIFYING PRESENCE. 39 
 
 There was aged Simeon, just and devout, content to wait long 
 for the consolation of Israel, and no less content to depart in 
 peace when his eyes had seen that Holy Child. 
 
 There was Anna the Prophetess, of a great age, who departed 
 not from the Temple, hut served God with fastings and prayers 
 night and day. 
 
 Here, my brethren, are the tempers we should encourage, here 
 are the practices in which we should train ourselves, if we would 
 come worthily into God's Temple, into the immediate presence of 
 our Lord. We cannot withdraw ourselves. As baptized Christians, 
 even now we are in close Communion with Him. If we will not, 
 according to our poor weak measure, work along with His refining 
 fire, while He still gives us space of trial, we have nothing else to 
 look for, but His devouring fire at the day of judgment. 
 
 These heavenly dispositions our Lord did in fact bestow upon 
 us, when He gave us, in Holy Baptism, His Spirit, whose fruits 
 they are. We were then presented unto Him in His Temple. 
 He graciously accepted us, and gave us pure and clean hearts. If 
 we have since stained and polluted the hearts which His grace 
 had cleansed : if we have defiled our own souls and bodies, the 
 temples of His regenerating Spirit ; there yet remains no other 
 way to us but only the way of Purity, Whatever toil, whatever 
 self-denial, whatever watching, fasting, and prayer, it costs us, we 
 must somehow obtain His grace, the grace of Purity, once again ; 
 else there is no hope of our finding Him a merciful High Priest, 
 to present us at last to His Father. 
 
 And this is not a work to be done in a moment. If God's 
 most faithful and innocent servants — they who seemed fittest to 
 stand before Him — felt the sharpness of His refining fire ; if the 
 Holy Virgin was to find a sword piercing her very soul ; if 
 Simeon had to wait long, and Anna to serve with fastings and 
 prayers night and day, both bowed down with extreme age, 
 and making God's House, as it seems, their home ; how thank- 
 fully ought we to welcome any pain, any disappointment, loss, 
 poverty, aflliction, unkindness, which our good God may send 
 upon us, in the hope that it may have a purifying efi"ect on our 
 fallen souls ! How ought we to busy ourselves, though late and 
 very imperfectly, yet as thoroughly as we can, in pi-ayer and good 
 thoughts, and keeping ourselves strictly in order ! 
 
40 Christ's purifying presence. 
 
 What have such as we are to do with enjoying hfe ? Surely it 
 were better to be ever " watchful, strengthening the things which 
 remain and are ready to die * :" for too certainly the works of most 
 of us are as yet most imperfect before God, most unworthy of 
 the baptismal grace which He freely gave us. 
 
 1 Rev. iii. 2. 
 
SERMON CLXX. 
 
 THE OUTCAST'S PLACE FILLED. 
 
 PREACHED Off ST. MATTHIAS DAY. 
 
 Psalm cix. 7- 
 " Lei his days be few, and let another take his office." 
 
 This Saint's Day is different from all the rest in one very striking 
 and awful circumstance : that it commemorates in a manner the 
 fall of Judas, as well as the consecration of holy St. Matthias in 
 his room. The sad event, which made room for this new Apostle, 
 is by no means left out of sight, or lightly touched upon, in the 
 Scripture account of his Election and Ordination. St. Peter in 
 his speech to the assembled Disciples, and they all afterwards in 
 their prayer to our Lord, make particular mention of Judas, and 
 of his end, so unspeakably dreadful. 
 
 Therefore, as often as we keep St. Matthias' Day, we keep the 
 memorial of the sin and misery of the traitor Judas also : and 
 our thoughts are carried back to that severe and awful Psalm, the 
 109th, which contains at large the sentence of the Everlasting 
 Judge on such wickedness as his : that kind of wickedness, which 
 is properly called Apostasy ; when such as have been brought un- 
 usually near to God fall away from Him, and their fall, by a most 
 just judgment, brings a curse proportionate to their first blessing. 
 
 Such was the fall of our first Parents in Paradise ; of Esau, the 
 first-born of a holy Patriarch ; of the Israelites in the wilderness, 
 with the Cloud of Glory in sight ; of Balaam, the Prophet, whose 
 eyes were open, and who saw the vision of the Almighty ; of 
 Judas, Christ's Apostle ; of the Jews, His ancient People : and 
 
42 THE outcast's place filled. 
 
 still more, of Christians, who are now so near Him by special 
 grace. Such also was that event, which was the root and the 
 type of all these, the original fall of the Evil one himself, from 
 his place as a bright Archangel in Heaven, to be chief of those 
 who are bound in everlasting chains under darkness. 
 
 Now two circumstances of the punishment of such as .ludas 
 are expressed in the Text : — a verse which St. Peter also quoted 
 in speaking to the Disciples of his fearful end : — " Let his days be 
 few, and his office," or Bishoprick, "let another take." The words 
 in themselves sound simple enough ; they might seem to speak of 
 no more than all human beings must undergo, by the necessity 
 of their mortal nature. All our days are few : they are but as 
 grass, they are gone almost before we can count them. All our 
 places, stations, and offices, whatever they may be, must soon pass 
 away from us, and another take them in our place. But this, the 
 common lot of all, is here turned into a fearful and peculiar curse, 
 for those who slight high privileges, and betray sacred trusts : 
 Almighty God thus instructing us, that as He can make blessings 
 out of all to the good, — " is able even of these stones to raise 
 up children unto Abraham," — so out of all He can provide 
 punishment for the wicked. And this too is seen thi-oughout all 
 His dispensations. The same pillar of the cloud, which was 
 darkness to the Egyptians, gave light by night to the Israelites. 
 The voice of Christ, which was healing to the faithful, caused 
 the unclean spirits to cry out in torments. And for aught we 
 know, the same divine Presence will be heavenly Light to one sort 
 of souls. Hell-fire to another, to all Eternity. 
 
 No wonder then if such ordinary things as the shortness of life, 
 and the dread of parting with our stations here, which are trifles, 
 or even blessings, to the obedient, should be mentioned as real 
 curses to the unfaithful and unruly. 
 
 At the same time it is to be observed, that these very circum- 
 stances are also means in God's hand, to lessen the quantity of 
 mischief which is done by those who fall from Him. Their 
 " days are few :" let them do their worst, they must come to an 
 end iu threescore or fourscore years ; and it has been thought 
 that this was a merciful dispensation, ordered by the Almighty 
 about the time of the Flood ; since, according to the rate at which 
 man's wickedness was then increasing, the very world itself could 
 
THE outcast's PLACE FILLED. 43 
 
 not have borne it, had men continued to live, as those before the 
 flood, seven, eight, or nine hundred years each. It was merciful 
 to the world, that their days were made in comparison few ; and 
 it may have been merciful even to themselves, for thev had the 
 less time to treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of 
 wrath. 
 
 Again, their having to part with their office, whereinsoever 
 God may have trusted them, to another : — this also greatly di- 
 minishes the quantity of mischief they can do in it, and the quan- 
 tity of scandal they bring upon their calling, especially if it be a 
 high and holy one. Besides their having less time to do harm in, 
 people live in hopes that they shall ere long see a change for the 
 better, and their hope lessens their grief and offence. 
 
 The instance of Judas is a very plain one, for shewing forth the 
 dealings of God's providence in this respect. His short life as an 
 Apostle (for it had not been three years complete) would have 
 been a blessing, had he been such as St. James, the first of the 
 twelve who came to his great reward : he would have departed, 
 and been with Christ so much the sooner. But as it was, what 
 judgment could be more fearful ? He had purchased a field with 
 the reward of iniquity, and within a very few hours after, seeing 
 that our Lord was condemned, he came and cast down what he 
 had gained by it, and departed, and went and hanged himself; 
 and then, even in his hanging, he had to endure some violent 
 fall, so that he " burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels 
 gushed out." 
 
 Thus his days were signally cut short ; and as to another 
 taking his office, St. Peter reminded the disciples that the Scrip- 
 tures concerning him were of course to be fulfilled, especially 
 two which he specified : " Let his habitation be desolate, and let 
 no man dwell therein ;" and, " His bishopric let another take." 
 No man dwelt in Judas's portion or habitation, for it was used 
 only to bury strangers in, and was called the Field of Blood. 
 Another took his Apostle's or Bishop's office, namely, the Apostle 
 of to-day, St. Matthias. 
 
 Thus Christ so ordered things, that the very downfall of one 
 of His own Apostles, which beforehand one would expect to 
 be well-nigh the ruin of the Church, was made consistent with 
 its continuance and prosperity. 
 
44 THE outcast's place filled. 
 
 Had Judas been allowed more time to exercise the powers of an 
 Apostle, who knows what incurable harm he might have done 
 in the infant Church ? 
 
 Had his place not been filled up, it might appear as though 
 God were forsaking us ; as if the whole Church might possibly 
 one day fail, through the unworthiness of its pastors. This the 
 Almighty has, we trust, effectually provided against, by what is 
 called the Apostolic succession, the handing on of His grace from 
 age to age through the Bishops ; of His care for which, the ordi- 
 nation of St. Matthias is the first example in the Church. We 
 know by it, that it is not His will to let His Church's being de- 
 pend on the character of His ministers ; since after the very 
 worst, after Judas by transgression had fallen, another was elected 
 to take his part of the ministry and Apostleship. And so, what 
 is truly wonderful to think of, he whom Christ had ordained, 
 fell away and was lost ; but he whom the Apostles ordained in 
 the absence of Christ, and before the coming of the Holy 
 Ghost, stood firm, and kept his crown. Our Lord intended, as 
 it may seem, in this as in many other ways to teach us, how 
 entirely He would have us regard His Church's commission as all 
 one with His own. 
 
 Further, the Scriptures appear to signify, that this His dis- 
 pensation concerning Judas was a kind of type or pattern of His 
 dealings with the whole Jewish people when they proved un- 
 faithful. For the sixty-ninth Psalm, which St. Peter on this 
 occasion interpreted of Judas, " Let his habitation be desolate, 
 and let no man dwell therein," is explained by St. Paul in the 
 Epistle to the Romans as concerning the unbelieving Israelites, 
 and the punishment they would undergo for rejecting Christ '. 
 Nor is it hard to understand wherein the two are alike, and how 
 the one may stand for the other — the traitor Apostle for the 
 rebeUious Jewish nation. 
 
 They are alike in this, that they both came so very near 
 Christ, by His special favour; and therefore, when they proved 
 unworthy, their punishments might well prove to be alike. Thus, 
 as Judas's days were few, — as he was cut off suddenly in the 
 early time of his Apostleship, — so were the days of the Jewish 
 
 > Horn. xi. 9, 10. 
 
THE outcast's PLACE FILLED. 45 
 
 people few, in comparison with what God intended for them, in 
 comparison of His true everlasting Church. They had been 
 God's people for many hundred years, but those years were but 
 a few days in God's sight, whereas He meant them to have been 
 His people for ever. 
 
 Then, whereas it is written of Judas, " Let another take his 
 office," we know that the Christian Church, gathered from 
 among both Jews and Gentiles, has been put in the place of 
 Israel, to be God's minister, and by its union with Christ, to be 
 Priest, Prophet, and Ruler on earth. And as Judas's name is a 
 name of reproach, as the very place where he died had an evil 
 mark set upon it, so, ever since the children of Israel were cast 
 off for rejecting Christ, their name, according to the threatening 
 of Moses, has become a proverb and a byeword and an astonish- 
 ment among all people. 
 
 Now it is a serious and alarming thought for us all. If Judas 
 Iscariot, who, favoured as he was, had never received the Holy 
 Ghost ; if the Jewish people, whose highest privileges were but 
 a shadow of what we receive in Baptism, — if they had their days 
 cut off by so dreadful a sentence, and their place in God's world 
 given over to others : what are Christians, what are Christian pas- 
 tors to expect, should they prove, after all, unclean and unworthy ? 
 As for the Church of God, we see and know, even by the ordi- 
 nation of St. Matthias, that He will protect her and prolong her 
 days, even through the worst times which evil men may bring 
 upon her : " He hath no need of the sinful man." Though a 
 whole generation proved Judases, He could raise up others like 
 Matthias in their stead. But to us severally it is a fearful 
 thought, how near we may go, — how near, alas ! we have gone, 
 towards forfeiting our privileges, and bringing the traitor's curse 
 upon us. 
 
 Many Christians, too surely, have been miserably trifling with 
 their own blessings, ever since they were able to think at all. 
 They began by trifling with their prayers : they cared not to say 
 them earnestly, though they were told never so often to do so. 
 Satan was watching, ready enough to interrupt those whom he 
 saw rather wishing to be interrupted. And so it has come to 
 ))ass, that although they have gone on saying prayers regularly 
 all their lives, it can scarce be said that they have truly prayed at 
 
46 THE outcast's place filled. 
 
 all. Inattention, thus indulged, is direct trifling with God : it is 
 quite a difl^erent thing from the natural weakness and infirmity 
 which causes even good men's thoughts, against their will, to 
 wander in their devotions. 
 
 Young people who have got into this habit will, almost of 
 course, behave disrespectfully at Church, another most ordinary 
 way of trifling with holy things. Might we not truly call it 
 another lesson in the devil's school ? It is indeed a sight to make 
 that evil one rejoice, to see how large a proportion of most con- 
 gregations go on from week to week. Out of mere hghtness and 
 foolishness of heart, they trifle away that great blessing of being 
 where Christ is. Many, nay all of them, know that they are 
 doing wrong ; it is very little pleasure to them ; yet they go on, 
 from mere bad habit, months and years, without seriously blaming 
 themselves : every time they go to Church they trifle away some 
 high and heavenly blessing, ofi'ered there by our Lord to His true 
 worshippers. 
 
 Thus prepared by inattention in private prayer, and irreverence 
 in God's house, they go abroad among the duties of life ; and 
 their enemy is still at hand, and knows too well how to come 
 upon them. He comes to them with bad thoughts ; and they, 
 not having their hearts chastened by the continual remembrance 
 of God's presence, open their minds to his impurities, instead of 
 turning away from them at once. Bad thoughts bring irregular 
 looks, dangerous liberties, disorderly doings, secret sins : and 
 with these upon his conscience, the unhappy person goes again 
 to the house of God, perhaps to His Altar, with far too little fear 
 and self-reproach. He thinks, perhaps, that he means to amend ; 
 but when the temptation comes again, it is but too often found 
 that he has no real principle to contend against it. Again he 
 falls, and again he comes near to Holy Things ; and except God 
 deal with him, and open his heart afresh by some of His marvel- 
 lous providential mercies, what can be expected of him, but that 
 the Holy Spirit, so continually grieved, should quite withdraw 
 from him, and leave him to go down to his grave without any 
 true penitence ; without ever really and sadly considering, how 
 near he has come to the sin of betraying Christ, while his hand 
 was with Him on His Table ? 
 
 Judas's own sin, we know, had what many would account a 
 
THE outcast's PLACE FILLED. 47 
 
 very slight and ordinary beginning. He kept the purse in which 
 our Lord and His Apostles lodged what little money they had, 
 and he was tempted to help himself to a little out of it, when he 
 thought it would not be missed. Are there not very many Chris- 
 tians who would reckon this a small sin ? hundreds of servants, 
 who scruple not to help themselves when their master is out of 
 sight, although their conscience tells them that if he were ip 
 sight they would be afraid and ashamed to do so ? thousands of 
 poor people, who make free in many ways with the property of 
 their richer neighbours, and would rather not be known to do so ? 
 Why would they rather it were not known ? Because their 
 hearts tell them it is wrong, and they may be called to account 
 for it. Yet the same persons not unfrequently go on, with little 
 fear or remorse, presenting themselves before God in His holy 
 services, as if He had never said, " Thou shalt not steal." 
 
 I am not of course at once comparing them to Judas ; yet 
 surely they are so far like him, in that they fear not to keep com- 
 pany with Christ, while yet they are secretly taking a liberty 
 which they know in their hearts Christ has positively forbidden. 
 
 Let them hasten to leave oiF their sin, lest their hearts grow 
 incurably hard. Let them consider those fearful words, " After 
 the sop, Satan entered into him." That is, when Judas was not 
 moved by the gracious warning of our Lord, shewing him that 
 He knew what mischief he was secretly thinking of, our Lord no 
 longer hindered the evil one from getting entire possession of 
 him. 
 
 The nearer Christ has called us to Himself, the more dan- 
 gerous surely are the first beginnings and whispers of sin ; and 
 the nearer we have ventured to approach, the greater advantage 
 have we given to Satan, except we tried in earnest to purify our 
 hearts and desires. 
 
 No doubt, St. Matthias himself may have had trembling 
 thoughts like these, wherewith to keep himself lowly and humble, 
 when he was called to so great an honour, so high a place in the 
 Church. And perhaps this was one reason, why the Apostles in 
 their Ordination Prayer not only begged a blessing on Matthias, 
 but also made particular mention of Judas and his fall ; and what 
 is more awful yet, of the place to which Judas was gone; for 
 " he fell," say they, " that he might go to his own place." What 
 
48 THE outcast's place filled. 
 
 must have been the new Apostle's thoughts, when he was thus 
 put in mind of Judas's place ! How earnestly must he have 
 prayed in his secret heart, that such place, or a worse, might 
 never be his own ! 
 
 I say a worse ; for must it not be worse for those who, besides 
 Judas's other privileges, have also that which is above all, union 
 ■vjith Christ by His Holy Spirit, and yet fall away as Judas 
 did ? That privilege the holy Matthias received within a few 
 days, when the Holy Ghost came down upon the assembled 
 Apostles, and he never forfeited it ; he went on glorifying God 
 as an Apostle, until he was permitted to glorify Him as a martyr. 
 We in our measure have the same privilege : the Holy Spirit 
 came down upon us at our Baptism. We, too, are members of 
 Christ ; but whether our days in His kingdom shall be few or 
 many ; whether we shall be permitted to keep our place, or 
 be cast out to make room for those that are holier and better, 
 who can tell ? Or how can a sinner ever be thankful enough 
 that it is not yet over with him ; that he has still time, he knows 
 not how much, to humble and punish himself heartily for his 
 great imperfection and unworthiness ; to watch and break him- 
 self of all beginnings of sin; to subdue the flesh to the Spirit in 
 all things ; to acquaint himself with God in all the ways of His 
 Church ; to fear always ; and to be more faithful and true in 
 every part of his calling towards God and man ? 
 
 •»• The Second Sermon in this Volume (Serm. CLXVI.) was pheached on 
 TiiK Flast of the Circumcision of Christ; the Third {Strm. CLXVII.) 
 ON TUB Feast of Epiphany. 
 
SERMON CLXXI. 
 
 THE HARDENING OF PHARAOH'S HEART. 
 
 PREACHED OK P.4SSI0^^ SUNDAY. 
 
 Exodus ix. 35. 
 
 " And tlie heart of Pliaraoh was hardened, neither would he let Israel go; as 
 the Lord had spoken by Moses." 
 
 The history of the deliverance of the children of Israel from 
 Egypt, is the first grand example in Holy Scripture of the warfare 
 between the Church and the world, God's kingdom and the king- 
 dom of the devil, which is continually going on, and in which we 
 are every one of us, whether we know it or not, taking our part. 
 Christ is come down to deliver us and our brethren, as He came 
 by Moses to deliver Israel from Egypt ; and we are, every one of 
 us, either helping or hindering His work : helping it, if we try in 
 good earnest to become such as He would have us, and to win 
 others to Him by good example ; hindering it, if we think to go 
 on pleasing ourselves, and walking by the low rules of this present 
 evil world. 
 
 This part, therefore, of the Book of Exodus, is in figure and 
 shadow the history of God's dealings with us all. As to the 
 character of Pharaoh in particular, too often we may understand, 
 by our own perverse and disobedient behaviour, how it represents 
 the wilfulness of men, opposing themselves to the gracious ways of 
 the Holy Spirit for their salvation. Pharaoh is the type of the 
 prince of this world, the devil, and of the wicked world itself. 
 As he kept the children of Israel in slavery, so does the evil 
 
 VOL. VI. E 
 
50 THE HARDENING OF PHAUAOH's HEART. 
 
 spirit keep all God's people, so long as they are in their natural 
 lost condition. Satan is as unwilling to have us delivered from 
 him by holy baptism, as Pharaoh to let the Israelites pass out of 
 Egypt through the Red Sea, and serve God in the mountain 
 •where He commanded them. 
 
 Pharaoh, then, is the type of the evil one, but he is also the 
 tvpe or figure of this wicked world ; and we may understand his 
 conduct, by observing how the world behaves towards those, whom 
 it has won back into its service, from the service of God, which 
 is perfect freedom, whereof they were made partakers in holy 
 baptism. Our own conscience will often help us too well to 
 understand how the spirit of the world, which has too much 
 power with us all, resists the good Spirit of God, and hardens us 
 against it. 
 
 So again, what the Bible tells us of the dealings of Almighty 
 God with this unhappy king, ought to serve us for a very solemn 
 warning, how far we may be gone in sinful hardness without 
 knowing it, if we once get into a way of dealing presumptuously 
 with God's judgments and mercies ; and what we must surely 
 expect will be the end of such conduct. 
 
 " The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart :" it is a very remark- 
 able and startling expression, and no doubt was intended to be 
 particularly noticed, for it is repeated very often in this history, 
 no fewer than-ten times. It is startling, for it seems at first sight 
 as if it ascribed the sin of that wicked man to Almighty God; 
 to Him who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, who cannot 
 be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man. But a very 
 little thought will show that God's hardening the heart of Pharaoh 
 is very far from meaning this, though it is a deep mysterious say- 
 ing, and we cannot suppose that we know all its meaning. 
 
 Thus much, however, we may observe, that in other places this 
 hardening is attributed to the miserable man himself.. " When 
 Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and 
 hearkened not unto them ; as the Lord had said' ;" and afterwards, 
 " Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he 
 let the people go" :" and yet again, " When Pharaoh saw that the 
 rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, 
 and hardened his heart, he and his servants '." The two sayings, 
 
 > Exod. viii. 15. » Ibid. ver. 32. » ii,i,i. jx. 34. 
 
I 
 
 THE HARDENING OF PHARAOH's HEAIIT. 51 
 
 " God hardened his heart," and " he hardened his own heart," 
 are put one for another, in such a way as to show that they mean 
 much the same thing. That is (and it is a most awful thought), 
 God gives bad men a mysterious power, to change their hearts 
 and minds continually for the worse, by their own wicked ways ; so 
 that in the end it maybe said of them, that they cannot believe nor 
 repent. At first they would not, and now they cannot. It is their 
 own doing, because they bring it on themselves by their sin ; 
 and it is God's doing, because it is the just punishment, which 
 His unchangeable law has made the effect of their sin. In 
 this way Pharaoh and other wicked men at all times are said both 
 to harden their own hearts, and yet to have their hearts hardened 
 by Almighty God. 
 
 But besides this, the sacred history gives us a good many par- 
 ticulars, which may help us to understand the progress of this 
 ruin and corruption in the heart of Pharaoh. The first time when 
 the hardening of it is mentioned, is when God appears to Moses 
 in the bush, and having promised him great things, and shown 
 him how to do M'onderful miracles, gives him to understand that 
 not even so must he expect to prevail with the Egyptians. " I 
 am sure," He saith, " that the king of Egypt will not let you go, 
 no, not by a strong hand*." That is, God knew beforehand that 
 the heart of Pharaoh was such, that not even mii-acles would over- 
 come his obstinacy ; as indeed we find, that when he did give 
 way, it was upon his people's interfering : if it had not been for 
 them, it almost seems as if there would have never beeii any show 
 of repentance in him ; and after all, how very quickly did he 
 change his mind, and pursue after them again ! The Almighty, 
 then, knowing Pharaoh's heart to be such as this, determines to 
 deal with him in a manner which ought to have softened and 
 amended him, but which, according to his perverse way of taking 
 it, will have the effect of hardening him more and more. 
 
 And of this He warns Moses again, when just on the point of 
 setting out on his journey into Egypt. " When thou goest to 
 return into Egypt, see that thou do all these wonders before Pha- 
 raoh, which I have put in thine hand ;" (for God had put into 
 Moses' hand the rod which had power to work all these things ;) 
 
 "Exod. Hi. 19. 
 E 2 
 
52 THE HARDENING OF PHARAOH'S HEART. 
 
 "but I (so God speaks) will harden his heart, that he shall not 
 let the people go*." Some such warning as this was no doubt 
 necessary to prevent Moses, who was naturally not very hopeful, 
 from being too much cast down, when he should see how little 
 Pharaoh would regard even his miracles. When he had once 
 been assured that the hardening of Pharaoh's heart was in a cer- 
 tain sense God's own work ; that there was a special providence 
 in it, which would turn it by and by to God's glory and the good 
 of His people ; when Moses had heard this, it would prepare him 
 to go on calmly in the midst of all discouragements : he would see 
 God's Hand, and feel His presence, even in the wickedness of the 
 wicked, and would not think His mighty works thrown away, 
 though at present, and in the sight of man, they might seem to 
 bear no fruit. 
 
 See now how the prophecy was fulfilled ; how God ordered His 
 dealings with Pharaoh in a way which He knew would harden his 
 heart, he being such as he was. Moses, at his first hearing of 
 the king, wrought no miracles : he merely went in, with Aaron 
 and the elders of the Jews, and gave God's message to Pharaoh, 
 who answered as a mere worldly proud person might be expected 
 to do : " Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice, to let 
 Israel go ? T know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go®." 
 So far, his heart was hardened by the message coming to him 
 through a people whom he despised, and with no particular out- 
 ward circumstances, none at least that appear, to draw his atten- 
 tion to them. 
 
 If Moses had had any remarkable gift of speech, it might have 
 given him (so at least we may think) a better chance with the 
 proud king. But this, too, we are expressly told, was by no 
 means the case. Moses from the beginning had remonstrated 
 with the Lord against his being sent on this message, because he 
 was slow of speech ; and when just on the point of going in to 
 Pharaoh, it seems that he spake before the Lord again, " Behold, 
 I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh hearken unto 
 me '' ?" One may well imagine how a haughty king might take 
 hold of this among other things to encourage him in his contempt 
 of Goj) and His people ; as certain enemies of St. Paul did after- 
 
 * Exod. iv. 21. « Ibid. v. 2. ' Ibid. vi. 30. 
 
THE HARDENING OF PHARAOH's HEART. 53 
 
 wards in respect of him : " His bodily presence," they said, " was 
 weak, and his speech contemptible :" and as it was objected to 
 One greater than either St. Paul or Moses, even to the Holy 
 Jesus Himself : when He taught in the temple, they said, " How 
 knoweth this man letters, having never learned ?" 
 
 Hitherto Moses had not exercised his miraculous power before 
 Pharaoh ; but now he goes in again and works before him certain 
 signs, which had been ordained beforehand, to show that God was 
 with him ; he turned his rod into a serpent and back again ; he 
 took of the water of the river and changed it into blood. This, 
 we might have imagined, never could have been turned to the 
 hardening of Pharaoh's heart ; but the magicians, the idolatrous 
 wise men of Egypt, were permitted to do the same, or at least to 
 seem to do it ; " Pharaoh called the wise men and the sorcerers, and 
 they also did in like manner with their enchantments ; for they cast 
 down every man his rod, and they became serpents *." And again, 
 when the whole water of the river Nile had been turned into blood, 
 " the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments '." Once 
 again, when the plague of frogs came on, "the magicians did so 
 with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of 
 Egypt'." Here was another excuse for Pharaoh, since he was 
 bent on finding excuses, for hardening his heart, and refusing to 
 obey the Lord. He might say to himself, as unbelieving 
 people do. These miracles are all but a sort of witchcraft. So 
 our Lord Himself was accused of casting out devils through 
 Beelzebub. 
 
 But, perhaps, of all God's providential doings, none had the 
 effect of hardening the hearts of His enemies so completely, as His 
 taking off His hand, immediately and repeatedly, when He had 
 begun to visit them with His plagues, even upon such very imper- 
 fect tokens of repentance. The moment Pharaoh expressed the 
 least will to repent, Moses at once granted his request, and left 
 to him to fix the time himself, when the frogs which swarmed 
 over Egypt should depart in answer to his prayer^. When 
 he had broken his word once, yet, on his professing a better 
 mind, Moses again made haste to intreat relief for him : only 
 warning him not to deal deceitfully again ^. And so in each of 
 
 8 Exod. vii. 11, 12. » Ibid. ver. 22. i Ibid. viii. 7. 
 
 2 Ibid. viii. 9. » Ibid. ver. 29. 
 
54 THE HARDENING OF PHAIIAOH's HEART. 
 
 the following plagues : the willingness of Moses to intercede, and 
 of God to receive his intercession, served but to render Pharaoh 
 more obstinate in his evil purpose ; so that even that horrible 
 darkness, the reading of which almost makes a person shudder, 
 was not, as far as we are told, so much cared for by him, as the 
 lighter scourges had been at first. 
 
 All along, you see, God's visitations were such as to bring out 
 any remnant of faith and reverence which might be lurking in 
 Pharaoh's heart ; but he unhappily being dead to such feelings, 
 all that was done only hardened him. See how in every in- 
 stance, where he is forced to give way, he yet contrives to yield 
 as little as possible. First he says, " Go ye, sacrifice to your 
 God in the land *." When he is told that may not be, they being 
 specially ordered to sacrifice in the wilderness, then his word is, 
 " I will let you go, only ye shall not go very far away'." By 
 and bv, overpowered with the swarm of locusts, and with the 
 complaints of his servants, " Knowest thou not yet that Egypt is 
 destroyed*?" he ofi'ers to let them go, but not with their little 
 children ; he would fain keep these for a sort of pledges that the 
 parents would return '. And it is just the same afterwards, with 
 regard to their cattle. That darkness which might be felt so far 
 moved him, that he called Moses again, and said, " Go ye, serve 
 the LoKD :" but he was again for adding a condition, "Only let 
 vour flocks and your herds be stayed *." Thus he went on, his 
 heart growing harder every time that the Almighty took his 
 hand off him, until at last he had come to such a pass, that the 
 sudden death itself of his own and his people's first-born, only 
 caused him to repent for about thirty-six hours. In two days' 
 time he was sorry that he had let Israel go, and was in hot pur- 
 suit of them again, contrary to all his promises and treaties. 
 
 Another method which Pharaoh liad of hardening himself, was 
 to take himself out of sight, to turn his back, or look another 
 way, whenever any thing occurred, which put him more in mind 
 than he wished of unpleasant duties. After the first plague, 
 which was the turning the water into blood, it is said, " Pharaoh 
 turned and went into his house, neither did he set his heart to 
 this also *." He got as fast as he could out of sight of the tokens 
 
 * ExoJ. viii. 25. * Ibid. ver. 28. « Ibid. x. 7- 
 
 ' Ibid. vcr. 10, II. '^ Ibid. ver. 24. » Ibid. vii. 23. 
 
THE HARDENING OF PHAUAOH's HEART. 55 
 
 of God's power and anger. When he had been talking with 
 Moses and Aaron, and was unwilling to let the Israelites' chil- 
 dren go with them as they desired, " they were driven out from 
 Pharaoh's presence '." And soon after he ventured to speak the 
 word, so affronting to God's messenger, and as it proved, so pro- 
 phetic with regard to himself, " Get thee from me, take heed to 
 thyself, see my face no more ; for in that day thou seest my face, 
 thou shalt die ^." 
 
 Then observe how regularly Pharaoh repents (as it were) of 
 his own repentance, and wishes he had not given way so far to 
 God's messengers ; and how at the last he makes up his mind to 
 do that which will be his utter ruin upon such a consideration as 
 this : " Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from 
 serving us ^ ?" How like is this to too many of us ; to the cold, 
 scanty, unwilling tone of most of our penitential exercises ! to the 
 eagerness with which we fly back to our sins, when the pressure 
 of the moment is passed away ! Certain and most fearful symp- 
 toms, these, of a hardening, self-corrupting heart ; a heart to 
 which, we have too much cause to fear, God's metcies and judg- 
 ments will alike prove occasions of falling. 
 
 To all this we may add, that Pharaoh, like other wicked kings, 
 did not want evil subjects to encourage him ; cruel and insolent 
 taskmasters, who seemed to rejoice in the tyrannical message they 
 had to deliver from him to the Israelites : " Fulfil your work, 
 vour daily task, as when you were allowed straw *." He had also 
 magicians, who were but too earnest in withstanding Moses 
 with him, and counterfeiting God's miracles : and again, he had 
 servants, who on every occasion were ready, it appears, to harden 
 their hearts with him. The Providence of the Just Judge allow- 
 ing this, tended greatly to confirm him in his reckless opposition 
 to God's cause. 
 
 Such, then, is Pharaoh's case : beginning at first in heathenish 
 ignorance, but forced in a manner, in spite of himself, by warning 
 after warning, to become aware of the truth. Every one of those 
 warnings was a chance given him to soften his heart. They were 
 meant in mercy to him and his people ; and indeed their issue 
 always was mercy, for they ended in Gou's taking off the scourge, 
 
 1 Exod. X. 11. * Ibid. ver. 28. 
 
 ' Ibid. xiv. 5. '^ Ibid. v. 14. 
 
66 THE HAUDENING OF PHARAOH's HEART. 
 
 until they renewed their sin : such virtue did He graciously be- 
 stow even on their forced and outward and most unwilling repent- 
 ance. But here was the misery ; they still kept hardening their 
 orwn hearts, and therefore all God's compassionate care only 
 turned to the hardening of them still more. 
 
 Now, think seriously but of this one word, hardening ; what an 
 alarming word it is ! what an awful notion does it give us of the 
 power we have over our own hearts ! of the peril we are in daily 
 of abusing God's grace to our own perdition ; so that when He 
 means to rain mercies upon us, we turn it into a shower of temp- 
 tations and corruptions ; as it is said in that Psalm of warning, 
 " Upon the ungodly He shall rain snares." 
 
 Think of this in good earnest. If you are apt to deal lightly 
 with God's warnings ; if you are got into a way of sinning and 
 repenting, and then sinning again ; if you feel it a relief, when 
 holy services are over, and when you turn your back on things 
 sacred : think of Pharaoh, and of his miserable end ; and to-dav, 
 while it is called to-day, begin to leave off ways which are so like 
 his wavs. 
 
SERMON CLXXIL 
 
 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH IN A BAD WORLD. 
 
 PREACHED ON PASSION SUNDAY. 
 
 St. John viii. 59; ix. I. 
 
 " Then took they up stones to cast at Him ; but Jesus hid Himself, and went 
 out of the Temple, and so passed by. And as Jesus passed by, He saw a 
 man which was blind from his birth." 
 
 This fifth Sunday in Lent is called in some parts of the Church 
 Passion Sunday, perhaps because some of the services of the day 
 begin to have especial reference to our Lord's sufferings, and to 
 prepare the minds of Christians for the mysteries of Passion 
 Week. Such at least is the tone of the Gospel for this day : 
 which tells us how the Jews of Jerusalem, who had several times 
 before persecuted our Saviour, were actually beginning to stone 
 Him to death. The occasion was. His saying, " Before Abraham 
 was, I AM." By which words He declared Himself the Eternal 
 Son of God, the same who in this day's first morning lesson 
 says to Moses, that He would be called, " I am that I am," and 
 bids him tell the children of Israel, " ' I am' hath sent me unto 
 you." The Jews counted this blasphemy, that He, being a man, 
 should make Himself God; and according to the law of Moses, 
 which commanded that blasphemers should be stoned, they pre- 
 sently caught up stones to cast at Him ; but Jesus hid Himself. 
 This escape of our Lord was no doubt a great miracle. As a 
 very old Divine remarks on it, " Christ here hides Himself, not 
 by shrinking behind partition walls, nor by interposing any thing 
 else between them and His ov/n Body, but by the power of His 
 Godhead making Himself invisible to those who sought Him." 
 
58 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH 
 
 Once before, as it seems, He had wrought the same wonder, 
 but not in the same place, nor among the same people. Very 
 early in His ministry, when He first preached at His own city 
 Nazareth, the people of that place, being offended at His reprov- 
 ing them for their especial want of faith, "rose up, and thrust Him 
 unto the brow of the hill whereon their city w'as built, that they 
 might cast Him down headlong. But He, passing through the 
 midst of them, went His way." " Passing through the midst of 
 them ;" they are the very words which St. John uses in the text. 
 Thus, as another old writer observes, " you may understand that 
 our Lord's Passion was endured not of constraint, but willingly : 
 that He was not so much taken by the Jews, as offered by Him- 
 self. For when He will. He is taken ; when He will. He es- 
 capes : when He will, He is hanged on a tree; when He will, they ' 
 can lay no hold on Him. So here He is on the brow of the hill, 
 whither He had gone up to be cast down ; and behold, through 
 the midst of them, changing or astounding their minds in the 
 midst of tlieir rage, He passes safely down : for the hour of His 
 Passion had not yet come." St. John savs, He hid Himself, 
 St. Luke does not say so : therefore it may be, that in the one 
 case His enemies could not see Him, any more than Balaam could 
 the Angel ; in the other case, that though they saw Him, the 
 hand of God was on them in some remarkable way, to keep them 
 from laying hands on Him. 
 
 Another circumstance much to be observed, in our Lord's 
 manner, in both these two several miracles, is His passing imme- 
 diately from His danger and the midst of His enemies, to the 
 performance of works of mercy among worthier and more thank- 
 ful people. When He became visible again, it was to heal 
 those who had need of healing. Thus from that hiH at Nazareth 
 He went straight down to Capernaum, and healed in their syna- 
 gogue a man who had a spirit of an unclean devil. And as He 
 passed out of the Temple, where the Jews had been seeking to 
 stone Him, He saw the man blind from His birth, on whom He 
 wrought that wonderful miracle, putting clay on His eyes, and 
 causing him to wash and receive sight. 
 
 Thus did our Lord very wonderfully both manifest and hide 
 Himself at the same time, according as men were willing' to 
 receive Him or no. Thus did He prepare His Disciples' miuds 
 
IN A DAD WORLD. 59 
 
 for His Passion, and show, that when He did suffer, it was not 
 through weakness, but of His own most merciful will. But the 
 particular way in Avhich at present I wish to consider this great 
 miracle is the following : how it throws light on the true condi- 
 tion of Christ and His servants here in this evil world. It shows 
 us what the true Church of Christ and what true Christians 
 must expect : and it shows us also how they may behave them- 
 selves, in such trials, worthy of Him vvhom they serve. 
 
 The plain doctrine of Scripture is, that as affliction is the lot of 
 all men, — for man is born to trouble as surely as the sparks fly 
 upward, — so persecution is the lot of Christians. They declare 
 themselves in Baptism bound to be always at war with the world 
 and the devil : and the world and the devil for their part will 
 never leave them alone. On this point our Lord and His Apo- 
 stles are quite plain and express. Our Lord in that prayer, 
 wherein, departing. He recommended His Church to His Father, 
 particularly mentions its condition as one of continual war with 
 this evil world, where it remains now for its trial. " I have given 
 My Disciples Thy Word," He says, " and the world hath hated 
 them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the 
 world. I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the 
 world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the Evil One." 
 You see, our Lord's own intercession is not that His people 
 should be free from persecution and hatred, but that they should 
 so behave themselves in it, as to give the bad Spirit no advantage 
 against them. 
 
 To the same effect He told them that they must take up the 
 Cross, and pronounced it as one of the regular blessings of a 
 Christian to be persecuted for righteousness' sake : as much so as 
 to be poor in spirit, pure in heart, merciful, or a peace-maker. 
 And when His Kingdom was set up, it was a regular part of His 
 Apostles' instructions, that " we must through much tribulation 
 enter into it." And St, Paul tells Timothy in so many words, 
 "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecu- 
 tion." And St. Peter comforts them, not with a promise of ease 
 and quiet, but with the thought, " Who can really harm you, if 
 ye be followers of that which is good ?" And St. John, writing 
 to his fellow Christians, describes himself to be their "com- 
 panion in tribulation, and in the Kingdom and Patience of Jesus 
 
60 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH 
 
 Christ," As much as to say that tribulation is the condition of 
 Christ's Kingdom, and patience the virtue which properly be- 
 longs to it. 
 
 If we then have no persecution, no tribulation to endure ; if 
 all men speak well of us ; if yve are such that the world cannot 
 hate us : is there not some reason to fear that we are not such as 
 He would approve ? The Cross is distinctly declared to be 
 Christ's mark : if we have it not clearly upon us, we have the 
 more reason to stand on our guard, and tremble, lest after all 
 we should prove not to have been His true soldiers and servants. 
 If we are among the unbelieving Jews, and they take up no 
 stones to cast at us, I do not say that it is at once a sign that we 
 are altogether not on Christ's side, altogether in a bad way : 
 but surely it is a reason why we should be very humble ; why we 
 should fear and suspect ourselves, and look narrowly into our own 
 doings, and punish and denv ourselves in secret. 
 
 I will try to explain what I mean, bv an example, ordinary and 
 mean enough in comparison. Any young person among his 
 companions, entering into their sports and amusements, and 
 generally praised by every one of them, called universally kind, 
 and frank, and goodnatured, and high-spirited : such an one will 
 do well to take himself to task, lest he be encouraging sin in 
 others : — rioting, or lewdness, or profane mirth, or idle useless 
 ways ; — even if he be not exactly guilty of such sin himself. Any 
 one who goes much into company, and is not noted as at all 
 stricter than the rest, let him watch his own ways diligently : 
 he mav be far gone, before he is aware of it, in loose ungodly 
 ways of talking and thinking : he goes a great way with the 
 friends of the world : let him see to it, that he is not the enemy 
 of God. 
 
 But further : the attack on our Lord on this occasion seems to 
 show what way of thinking it is, and what particular part of the 
 Church's doctrine, which is most apt to draw on itself the cen- 
 sure and enmity of the w^orld. Why did the Jews try to 
 stone our Lord ? because He represented Himself as having 
 been before Abraham. So a while after, when He plainly said 
 to them, " I and My Father are one," they presently took up 
 stones to stone Him. And His final condemnation to death by 
 the High Priest went on no other ground. Caiaphas asked Him 
 
IN A BAD WORLD. Gl 
 
 in the council, putting Him in a manner on His oath, whether 
 He was the Christ, the chosen of God ? And when He said, 
 " I AM," and told them for a token of it that they should see 
 Him one dav coming in the clouds of Heaven, they at once con- 
 demned Him to be guilty of death. 
 
 Thus it has ever been between Christ and the wicked world. 
 They would bear Him to teach many things— to speak in praise 
 of Love and Charity, or to utter His great unspeakable promises. 
 But when it comes to this, You are members of Christ, walk 
 worthy then of the vocation wherewith ye are called : Christ, who 
 accounts you part of Himself, is the Most High God ; you, as 
 united to Him, are partakers of the Divine Nature ; therefore you 
 must really keep the commandments, you must be inwardly and 
 really holy as He is holy : — when this kind of doctrine is put forth, 
 and urged home to the hearts of men, they grow uneasy, and start 
 objections, and make difficulties, and say it is requiring too much ; 
 thev never can come up to so high a standard : and they take 
 people to have become their eneotiies, who talk to them in such a 
 tone. 
 
 They can bear to think of Holy Baptism as a religious dedica - 
 tion of their infants to Almighty God : but they do not love to 
 hear it called Regeneration. The Holy Communion they consider 
 as a true memorial of the Body and Blood of Christ, but they do 
 not like to say that in it they really and spiritually partake of His 
 Body and Blood. And so in other things ; the spirit of the world 
 mixes insensibly with our views and thoughts, and tries to hinder 
 us from considering our communion with Christ so very near as 
 the Church constantly teaches. And if we indulge this unbelief 
 and dislike, we shall come in time to hate the high doctrine and 
 its maintainers. Like a certain persecuting Emperor of old, it 
 will make us angry to hear persons confess that they bear about 
 within them Him who was crucified. 
 
 This too we may often see, in a small way, in many parts of 
 men's conversation. They like to see people good to a certain 
 degree, but that high and angelic goodness, that perfect separation 
 from'the things of earth, which becomes men who know that their 
 life is hid with Christ in God, this is not to their liking— they 
 hardly believe it sincere when they see it, and they generally have 
 some word of contempt to describe it by. All such cases are but 
 
62 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH 
 
 SO many tokens, that the true spirit of those Jews, who then took 
 up stones to cast at our Saviour, lives, and is active and mightv 
 among us now. 
 
 This of course makes our duty, in respect of God's Truth and 
 worship, harder to perform ; but it does not in the least make it 
 obscure or doubtful. Whether men will hear, or whether they 
 will forbear, it is their Pastor's business to urge on them the 
 truth, and their duties ; it is their brethren's business, bv practising 
 the duties, to show that they believe the Truth. We must not 
 neglect, or forget, high and mysterious doctrines, or severe rules, 
 because those with whom we are concerned are impatient at being 
 put in mind of them : yet again, we must so teach them as they 
 may be able to bear ; tempting them as little as possible to 
 irreverent hearing or careless forgetting. 
 
 Thus our Lord, though He punished the hardened obstinacy of 
 those Jews, by openly declaring His Godhead, which He knew they 
 could not endure, yet in His mercy withdrew Himself from their 
 sight : He would not yet suffer them to crown their unbelief with 
 murder. " The Word," says a great Bishop and Saint of old 
 time, St. Athanasius : " The Word Himself, having been made 
 man for our sake, condescended, when sought for, to hide Him- 
 self : — and again, when persecuted, to fly and avoid the snare 
 laid for Him. For it became Him, not only bv hunger and thirst 
 and affliction, but also by concealment and flight, to show Himself 
 clothed with flesh, and made man. Thus at the beginning, just 
 after He had been made man, in his childhood, Himself bv the 
 Angel commanded Joseph, Rise, take the young Child and His 
 Mother by night, and flee into Egypt, for Herod will seek the life 
 of the young Child . . . Afterwards, when He was shownng Him- 
 self as God, and had healed the withered hand, the Pharisees 
 went out and took counsel against Him to destroy Him. But 
 Jesus knew it, and departed thence. So, too, when He raised 
 Lazarus from the dead, from that day, we read, they took counsel 
 to kill Him : Jksus therefore walked no more openly among the 
 Jews, but went away into a place near the wilderness." 
 
 In all these instances, Jesus .Christ, His hour being not yet 
 come, retired out of the way of His enemies, and gave them time 
 to .consider and repent. So it becomes us, when we bear witness to 
 the truth, to be full of that great charity, wliich will make us put our- 
 
IN A CAD WOULD. 63 
 
 selves in the gainsayers' place, and always consider what is most 
 likely to do them good, and bring them to a better mind. As for 
 example : if a bad or profane Ayord is spoken in our hearing, it can 
 never of course be right to seem amused with it, or in any way to 
 become partaker of the sin : but it may often be best not openly 
 to rebuke it at the time, but rather to turn the discourse for the 
 present, and await some opportunity, when we can speak with the 
 offender alone, and he is otherwise more disposed to listen to us. 
 This is withdrawing the name of our Lord out of the way of re- 
 proach, as He did His Person from the stones that were cast at 
 Him. 
 
 Only we must be very careful, that we do not so retire through 
 cowardice or sloth, or out of care what men may say of us : and 
 the proof of this will be, if we seek anxiously afterwards for 
 opportunities of doing the good, which we thought we could not 
 do at that time ; and if we deny ourselves something for the sake 
 of doing it. 
 
 Moreover, when we hear persons speak disrespectfully, I will 
 not say of our Lord and Saviour Himself, since that kind of 
 blasphemy is not yet so common among us, but of His great 
 Manifestation of Himself in His Church, her ordinances and doc- 
 trines ; I say, when words of reproach are spoken against tlie 
 Church, the Clergy or the Sacraments ; — our great and chief care 
 ought to be, "What if I, by some sin of mine, have helped to give 
 occasion to this great evil ?" We should consider how far our own 
 behaviour has been from the pure and mild, the exact and self- 
 denying precepts of the Holy Universal Church ; how we have 
 tempted men to slight it, by our careless or self-willed ways. We 
 should call to mind any private sins, to which we may have un- 
 happily given way, more or less wilfully : we should consider in 
 our hearts, " How could God hear the prayers of such as I have 
 been, so inclining to wickedness in my heart ? No wonder if, when 
 I have prayed in Church that God would make all Christians agree 
 in the Truth of His W^ord, and live in unity and godly love, my 
 unworthiness should have hindered in some measure the petition 
 from being granted : no wonder if, where I am concerned, evil 
 spirits have great power, and the work of God seems to go back- 
 ward instead of forward. God grant that I may do better in what 
 
64 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH 
 
 time yet remains, and never again put a stumbling-block in the 
 way of Christ's little ones." 
 
 Such seem to be some of the thoughts which would come most 
 naturally into the mind of a considerate Christian, especially if 
 trusted with others, when he meets with the contradiction of 
 sinners — when being a parent, for example, he finds his children 
 disobedient and unthankful ; when he is a master, and his servants 
 prove unruly ; when being called on by his office to warn and 
 guide others, his advice is set at nought, and his labours seem 
 without fruit. Instead of spending his thoughts on their sinful- 
 ness, he will do well to consider his own ways, beseech God to 
 show him where he has been wrong ; in what respects, secret or 
 open, he has either given scandal to his brethren, or stained his 
 own conscience, and forfeited the blessing of Christ. 
 
 And lastly, whatever trouble has come upon any man, either by 
 his own fault or those of others, in the way of doing his duty : 
 we learn by this example of our Blessed Lord, that it should not 
 make us cold or lukewarm in doing our duty afterwards. He 
 having withdrawn Himself from the wicked malice of the Jews, 
 did not the less go on with the great work which He had to do. 
 He saw the man born Wind, begging at the gates of the Temple, 
 and without any delay He healed him, giving as his reason, " I 
 must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day : the 
 night cometh, when no man can work." 
 
 The danger which He had just been in from the malice of the 
 Jews, was to be a warning to His disciples, of what both He and 
 they might expect from the same enemies by and by. His hour 
 was not yet full come, but it would come before long, and in the 
 mean time His care was, to finish the work which His Father had 
 given Him to do. 
 
 Let us, all in our several stations, take the hint which our 
 Master and only Saviour thus graciously vouchsafes to give us. 
 When untoward and perplexing things happen, let us go on the 
 more earnestly with what we are sure is good and right, the fear 
 of God and the keeping of His Commandments. When we are 
 hindered from doing good in one way, let us go on straight, if 
 God permit, to do some other good, or the same in some other 
 Or if our hands seem entirely tied, at least let us do our- 
 
 wav. 
 
CHRIST AND HIS CHUUCH IN A BAD WOULD. 65 
 
 selves that great good of humbling ourselves before God, searchiii"- 
 and confessing our past offences, and beseeching Him that the 
 Cross, which He has laid on us, may be in His own mysterious 
 way united to the Cross of His Son, and made profitable to our 
 salvation. 
 
SERMON CLXXIII. 
 
 PRESSING ONWARD TO THE CROSS. 
 
 PREACHED ON PALM SUNDAY. 
 
 St, Luke xii. 50. 
 
 " I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened until it be 
 accomplished ?" 
 
 Most persons know something of the feeling of suspense and 
 anxious curiosity, when they are looking forward to any thing very 
 serious, any thing which they think will greatly affect their happi- 
 ness ; especially when they have heen a long time kept in expectation 
 of it. The hours, days, months, years of waiting appear to them 
 more and more tedious ; they ai-e more and more alive and awake 
 with curiosity, to know what sort of a thing it will he when pre- 
 sent, which now at a distance occupies their mind so much. 
 
 No one will wonder that this should he the case, when the thing 
 we look on to is pleasant ; but there is a feeling of the same sort 
 of impatience, even though it be ever so painful. As those who 
 are standing on some very high place, when they turn giddy, are 
 half tempted to cast themselves down, so persons on the edge of 
 any great and terrible change are more or less inclined, oftentimes, 
 to plunge themselves into it : any thing, to their irritated minds, 
 appears better than doubt and delay : they seem to themselves to 
 know the worst, and not to care how soon it comes. 
 
 Now our Blessed Loud, as one of us in all things, sin only ex- 
 cepted, had His share of this feeling, so far as it is natural and 
 innocent; at least, so v.-c may understand His saying in the text. 
 Hk is speaking of the effects of His coming, the sacred fire whlcli 
 would be kindled in the whole world by His Holy Si'iuit, the un- 
 
PRESSING ONWARD TO THE CROSS. 67 
 
 happy division and warfare -whicli His Gospel, though meant to be 
 a Gospel of peace, should every where produce. " I am come to 
 send fire on the earth ; and what will I, if it be already kindled ? . . 
 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth ? I tell you, Nay; 
 but rather division'." 
 
 With these expectations of what should befall His Church, our 
 Lord mingles also the sure and certain thought, which lay deep 
 in His Divine Soul, of His own sufferings. " I have a baptism to 
 be baptized with ;" that is, "A flood of pain and fear and anguish, 
 both of Soul and Body, is preparing in the counsels of God to over- 
 whelm Me : I came into the world on purpose to endure it, and it 
 is never out of My thoughts ; rather it occupies them more and 
 more, and the time seems longer and longer, as I draw nearer the 
 great trial and Agony, the bloody Sweat, the Cross and Passion." 
 
 He knew how bitter it would be to flesh and blood ; knew it far 
 better than any of the children of men, even though they vfere in- 
 spired Prophets, ever knew of the pain they should suft'er ; for He 
 was the Creator both of His own soul and body, and of the very 
 Cross on which they were to be tormented. None could know, as 
 He, what He should suffer Avhen He entered on the work. Yet 
 here you see what His mind was. Instead of shrinking from it. He 
 was the more eager to begin : so high, so courageous was His 
 love to us, and His zeal for His Father's gloiy ; so complete the 
 condescension with which He entered into this and all other inno- 
 cent feelings of ours. 
 
 He seems in the very next chapter to express the same kind of 
 feeling, when told by the Pharisees of Herod's purpose to kill Him. 
 " Go ye and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures 
 to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected." 
 As if He should say, " Herod need not trouble himself about slay- 
 ing Me ; I know well when it will be Mr time to be pertectea ; — 
 to be fully ofifered up in sacrifice for the sins of My people ; — but 
 it cannot be just yet ; ' I must walk to-day, and to-morrow, and 
 the day following ;' I must enter into Jerusalem, for it is a law of 
 God's Providence, that a Prophet can hardly perish any where 
 else. And all this must take some little time." 
 
 Thus our Saviour expresses Himself, somewhat in the same 
 
 1 Luke xii. 40. 51. 
 F 2 
 
68 PUESSING ONWARD TO THE CROSS. 
 
 wav as an ordinary child of Adam might, when he found himself 
 drawin"- near the great object of his whole life. And there are 
 many other signs, in St. Luke's Gospel particularly, how His 
 thoughts and wishes were continually turning that one way. " He 
 stedfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem :" there was no thought 
 of drawing back on account of the sufferings which He foresaw 
 there; rather, like a true and brave warrior, who would " tread 
 the winepress alone," He went on calmly and resolutely towards 
 His great end, the saving of us by suffering. The expectation of 
 it ran through all His sayings and doings, especially in whatever 
 fell from Him about taking up the Cross : that famous saying, 
 which to His Disciples at the time must have seemed far beyond 
 their understanding, but which they would understand when they 
 came in sight of our Lord's own Cross. The Agony in the garden, 
 that deep mysterious trial, was in this way but the completion and 
 perfection of what He had been enduring inwardly, during the 
 whole time of His ministry. He was straitened, as He had been 
 before, only far more intensely, till His great work should be 
 accomplished. 
 
 To the children of this world the time seems long, until they 
 have tried such and such a project, by which they expect to mend 
 their fortunes; till they meet such and such a friend, from whom 
 they have been long separated ; till they receive such a favour or 
 benefit, on which they have set their hearts. But to the Son of 
 God the time seemed long, until He should be betrayed by His 
 friend, seized by His enemies, bound, spitted on, shamefully en- 
 treated, scourged, nailed to the Cross, and hanged on it ; till His 
 Soul should be " exceeding son-owful, even unto death," so as to 
 force great drops of bloody sweat from His holy and suffering 
 Body; nay, till He should have to endure that unknown grief, 
 which caused Him to cry out, "My God, My God, why hast 
 Thou forsaken Me ?" He felt as it were straitened and uneasy 
 till these things were accomplished : so great was His love of 
 souls, ?o unspeakable His anxiety to deliver a lost world from 
 eternal ruin, and to pay down the price of His Blood for the 
 Church, which lli; was to redeem and unite to Himself for ever. 
 
 In His mighty works and manifestations of power. He had con- 
 tinually been looking on to this. On His first coming to the 
 Baptist, to be set apart for His great sacrifice. He used words 
 
PRESSING ONWARD TO THE CROSS. 69 
 
 which most likely have some reference to His future sufferings : 
 " Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness ;" " thus," that is, 
 " by being plunged in afflictions, which are to come round about 
 Me like water, and then rising again out of them in the power of 
 the quickening Spirit." This seems to be part of the meaning of 
 those deep and mysterious words. 
 
 And when He began to work miracles, it would seem as if the 
 secret silent feeling of His future sufferings accompanied Him all 
 along, and caused Him, in a wonderful way, already to bear the 
 burthen of those whom He came to relieve. Somewhat of this 
 sort St. Matthew appears to signify, where he says that our Sa- 
 viour, by healing the sick, fulfilled what Isaiah had written con- 
 cerning Him, " Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sick- 
 nesses," Accordingly, in many of His miracles He showed tokens 
 of a heavy heart. When about to heal one that was deaf, and 
 had an impediment in his speech, " He sighed, and looking up to 
 heaven, said, Be opened." He wept by the grave of Lazarus, 
 though He was just on the point of raising him. And when set- 
 ting out into Judaea to perform that miracle. He spake words which 
 showed how straitened He was in heart, how earnest until His 
 hour came. His disciples had objected to His going again into 
 Judaea, because the Jews of late had sought to stone Him. His 
 answer was, " Are there not twelve hours in the day ? If a man 
 walk in the day, he stumbleth not." As much as to say, " My 
 time is measured, and it is short, and I cannot afford to lose any of 
 it :" or, as He had before warned the same disciples about the man 
 born blind ; " I must work the w^ork of Him that sent Me while it 
 is day ; the night cometh, when no man can work." 
 
 Thus, as He in His merciful and infinite condescension limited 
 Himself as His creatures are limited, — He wdio is the God of 
 Eternity limited Himself to a certain time, — so He set us an ex- 
 ample, who are all of us so limited, which way our thoughts 
 should tend. Men are apt to think they shall die contented, when 
 they have satisfied this or that wish, when they have done this or 
 that w^ork, when they have made so much money, when they have 
 obtained such and such an advantage for those whom they leave be- 
 hind them ; and that favourite object, whatever it be, haunts them 
 night and day, and colours in a manner almost all their thoughts 
 and words. So were our blessed Master's sayings tinged all over 
 
70 PRESSING ONWARD TO THE CROSS. 
 
 with the longing expectation of the Cross. And when the Cross 
 itself came, His disciples, and we after them, might see the 
 meanin"" of many, very many words and deeds, which could not 
 possibly be understood at the first. 
 
 Now as our Lord in every thing else is the Head and Pattern 
 of His Saints, and as their mind is the mind of Christ ; so also in 
 this point, of looking forward anxiously to the Cross, longing for 
 the hour to come, when they may take it up for His sake, and for 
 the sake of their brethren. As in other respects, so in this, the 
 Saints show themselves new created after the image and likeness 
 of their Master. Thus St. Peter, having had a promise from 
 Christ, signifying what death he should die, carried the thought 
 of it about with him wherever he went, as he shows by his way of 
 writing when that hour was drawing near. " I think it meet, as 
 long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in 
 remembrance ; knowing that I must shortly put off this my taber- 
 nacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me." 
 
 St. Paul, too, more especially — whom we are directed to follow 
 as he followed Christ — shows himself in many places entirely 
 possessed with this divine and glorious desire, of sacrificing him- 
 self more and more entirely to the glory of his Lord and the 
 salvation of his brethren. Thus, to the Philippians, writing 
 from prison, and in more or less danger of death, he uses the 
 very same words as our Blessed Lord in the text : "I am in a 
 strait, I am straitened, betwixt two things, having a desire to 
 depart and to be with Christ, which is far better ; nevertheless, 
 to abide in the flesh is more needful for you." Whether he was 
 then to live or die, he was in a kind of strait or agony, wondering 
 how he might do most and best for the great cause in which he 
 was engaged. It took up his whole mind, and left no room at 
 all for the ordinary cares and pleasures of life, which we too com- 
 monly allow ourselves to be carried away with. 
 
 In another place he tells us what it was, which caused this 
 thought to prevail over all others in his mind. " The love of 
 Christ," he says, " constraineth us : " it fills our vciy heart, and 
 makes it in a manner ache with longing to have right thoughts of 
 Him, and behave ourselves worthily of Him ; it occupies us entirely, 
 and carries us quite away: "because we thus judge, that if One 
 died for all, then were all dead, and Hk died for all, that thcv 
 
PRESSING ONWARD TO THE CROSS. 71 
 
 which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto 
 Him which died for them and rose again." 
 
 Thus, as Christ was straitened, until His painful Baptism of 
 blood and sorrow was accomplished, so St. Paul, and all who 
 resemble him, are straitened, until they can find some way of 
 giving themselves up more entirely, body and soul, life and 
 death, to Him who thought nothing at all, not even heavenly 
 and divine glory, too dear to give up for them. 
 
 And this feeling, which St. Paul's writings express, agrees per- 
 fectly with his history, as we read it in the Acts of the Apostles. 
 He is continually journeying, teaching, preaching ; he gives him- 
 self no rest in body or in mind ; he is " pressed," that is, strait- 
 ened, " in spirit, declaring to all that Jesus is Christ." So 
 deep is his feeling of the mercy which he had received, in being not 
 only baptized but ordained, not only forgiven but taken into the 
 special service of Jesus Christ, that he knows not how he can 
 ever do enough, how he can ever be sufficiently active in declar- 
 ing to his brethren the message with which he is entrusted. 
 
 Then as his own departure drew nigh, hear how he welcomes 
 it, how his whole heai't is set upon it : "I am now ready to be 
 offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. Henceforth 
 there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. The Lord 
 shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto 
 His heavenly kingdom." You see, the thought of what is coming 
 takes him up entirely ; he has neither ear, eye, nor mind for 
 such matters as will come to an end with this short life. He has 
 " a Baptism to be baptized with," a martyr's death to die for 
 Christ's sake and the Gospel's, and he is straitened, pressed in 
 spirit, full of expectation and suspense, until this great and 
 happy work, which he knows God has to do with him, be accom- 
 plished. 
 
 Now, we are to be followers of St. Paul, as he was of Christ. 
 We, too, have all " a Baptism to be baptized with : " we have 
 our appointed portion of cares and sufferings to go through, our 
 sorrows, purifying or penitential, as we have wandered less or 
 more from the happy innocence to which God called us in Bap- 
 tism. If we have nothing else to go through, that at least 
 awaits us which is the common lot of all men. Be our paths in 
 life what they may, they must every one take us through the 
 
7*2 PUESSING ONWAIID TO TIIi: CROSS. 
 
 vallev of the shadow of death. We vit/st come into those deep 
 waters, so that the floods will run over us. 
 
 If, then, we will enter, in some faint measure, into the mind of 
 CiiiusT and of His most faithful servants, must wc not endea- 
 vour to turn our hearts, habitually and continually, to that which 
 we know must soon come ? Must we not very often set ourselves 
 to consider our own death, and what will come after } 
 
 As it is, when we lie awake on our beds, or when we are jour- 
 neying alone, or when in any other way our thoughts are left 
 free, we are too apt to have something or other of this world, 
 with the thought of which our spirits are pressed, and we spend 
 ourselves with vain longings to have it accomplished, and ima- 
 ginings how it will be with us, after such and such a change, 
 painful or pleasant, shall have taken place. But when we have 
 learned to attend to the warnings of Holy Scripture, our thoughts 
 and imaginations in solitude will be very different. Then, as we 
 lie awake, or as we travel alone, we shall be carried on in our 
 minds to that time, when our place on earth will know us no 
 more; when the things which are now present, and which in 
 spite of ourselves lay so fast hold of us, will have passed away as 
 if they had never been ; and the future, which is now so hard to 
 fix our hearts on, will have become present, never to pass away. 
 Then, instead of representing to ourselves this or that friend on 
 earth, whom we expect to see at such and such a time, we shall 
 try to set before our mind's eye Him whom we are sure to see 
 before very long, Jesus Christ on His Throne of Judgment. 
 Instead of picturing in our fancy this or that place which we hope 
 some time to see, we shall let our contemplations wander on into 
 those regions of joy and woe, in one or other of which, we know, 
 wc must soon have a home for ever. Instead of planning rest- 
 lessly and wearily what we have to do next, and what after that, 
 in some pursuit which happens just now to be interesting, avc 
 shall be straitened and anxious, thinking how little we have done 
 yet, and what we may and ought to do, for Chuist and the 
 Church's sake : we shall be contriving how to lay out ourselves 
 more entirely, to sacrifice something more to Him, Who never yet 
 overlooked the smallest act of true devotion and self-denial. 
 
 Tersons who arc really subduing their selfish feelings, and 
 fixing their hearts on these great things, will find by degrees 
 
PRESSING ONWARD TO THE CROSS. 73 
 
 that the world is too strait for thera ; and the thought of death, 
 awful as it must always he, will come into their minds not unac- 
 companied with a sort of thrilling hope, a wondering into what 
 new and high regions they will find themselves let loose, when 
 the spii'it takes leave of the body ; and still more when both body 
 and spirit, by the Grace of Him who died and rose again, shall 
 be called together from the grave to their eternal state. By degrees 
 these real and unspeakable things will take up more and more 
 room in their minds ; they will mingle more and more with their 
 daily life and conversation : wherever they go, they will bear 
 about with them the remembrance of death, judgment, eternity. 
 Heaven, and Hell : whatsoever their hand findeth to do for God 
 and Christ, they will do it with all their might, and without 
 delay, knowing that " there is no device, nor knowledge, nor 
 wisdom in the grave whither they are going." They will find 
 themselves less dejected and disappointed, when their earthly 
 matters turn out untowardly ; less excited and lifted up, when they 
 seem to be prospering and having their own way, and when 
 things prove such as they had judged them to be. 
 
 Surely, after all that can be said in praise of gaiety and lightness 
 of heart, and enjoving ourselves while we can, this " mind of 
 Christ," this serious temper, is what every one at the bottom of 
 his heart knows to be the only reasonable and right one. We 
 know, every one of us, that the great overwhelming Day will 
 very soon be here, and that when it comes, he will have least 
 to regret, who has thought most of it beforehand, and mixed it 
 most up with all his other thoughts. Surely each one of these 
 holy seasons, such as Lent, and Passion-week, and Easter, which 
 shall have passed away unimproved by us in meditations such as 
 these, will then rise up in judgment against us ; all serious occa- 
 sions, whether of joy or sorrow, whether the solemn times of the 
 Church or our own household matters, will add weight to our 
 burthen, if we have not tried to make them serious. 
 
 And well, on the other hand, will it be for those who, with the 
 faithful Apostle, shall have surrendered themselves to the full in- 
 fluence of those great thoughts, which being enough to fill the 
 Mind of the Son of God Himself, are yet graciously put by Him 
 within reach of the meanest of His Disciples, according to their 
 measure. Well for those who, knowing that God has a great 
 
74 PRESSING ONWARD TO THE CROSS. 
 
 work of Penitence and Reformation to do in them, feel restless 
 and straitened and uneasy till it be accomplished. Well for those 
 who study and toil and lie awake, contriving not about their own 
 profit or pleasure, but how best to save their souls, do good to 
 their neighbours, and glorify their Saviour. 
 
SERMON CLXXIV. 
 
 SAINT MARY UNDER THE CROSS. 
 
 PREACHED ON GOOD FRIDAY, 1842, BEING ALSO THE FEAST OF THE 
 ANNUNCIATION. 
 
 St. John xix. 25. 
 " There stood by the Cross of Jesus, His Mother." 
 
 It might have been thought that the One Great Unspeakable 
 Object, which is this day presented to the eyes of Men and 
 Angels, God Incarnate crucified and dying, should so take up 
 all our regard, that we should hardly have eyes or ears, or any 
 sort of attention, for any thing besides. It might almost seem 
 disrespectful, to turn away our thoughts for a moment, from Him 
 who hangs on the Cross, to any thing else, though ever so near 
 it. But Holy Scripture teaches us otherwise, surrounding as it 
 does that glorious and awful Cross with so many objects more or 
 less closely approaching it, which it even invites us to look on : 
 friends and enemies and indifferent spectators ; blasphemers and 
 penitents ; Jews and Gentiles ; the earth quaking and the sun 
 hiding its face, the vail of the Temple rent in twain, and the 
 very bodies of the Saints which slept coming out of their graves. 
 All these things we are to attend to : why else are they set down 
 in the Gospels? and without due attention to them, we shall be 
 less perfect than we might be in our thoughts of that great over- 
 powering Object, Who is set in the midst of them, and towards 
 Whom they all look. 
 
 And among them all there is one circumstance, which must 
 
76 SAINT MARY UNDER THE CROSS. 
 
 draw in an especial manner the attention of all thoughtful adorers 
 of our Saviour, because it seems to come nearer to Him than all 
 the rest : I mean that which is mentioned in the Text, " There 
 stood by the Cross of Jesus, His Mother ;" she who was the 
 nearest to Him of all created beings ; of whom He became incar- 
 nate ; concerning whom our Church teaches, that of her substance, 
 in her w-omb. He took man's nature upon Him ; whom, therefore, 
 the whole Church teaches us to call. The Mother of God : she 
 stood by, and beheld Him in all that deep suffering ; heard, as it 
 seems, His last words, and saw Him die. 
 
 For a mother to be present at the death of an only son, is an 
 affecting thought at any time ; a grief too deep and mysterious for 
 any quite to understand, but those who have felt it : but for her 
 who is highly favoured, the Virgin Mother of the Blessed Jesus, 
 to stand by and see Him crucified between two thieves, and hear 
 Him cry out, " Why hast Thou forsaken Me ?" — this surely is a 
 secret and mystery of anguish, as much above what ordinary 
 mothers can understand, as their grief is more than can be com- 
 prehended bv any but mothers. 
 
 Therefore the eye of every one, who has but ordinary human 
 feeling, turns of course towards her more especially, among the 
 circumstances of our Lord's Passion : much more the eye of a 
 thoughtful Christian, believing and considering the unspeakable 
 honour she had received, in becoming the Mother of Him who is 
 Very God ; to such an one, the presence of the Blessed Mrgiii by 
 the Cross will seem a very remarkable circumstance, setting forth 
 His adorable Providence, in bringing nearest to Him in sufferings, 
 her who was nearest in Blood, and w'hora He most loved and 
 honoured. 
 
 And this train of thought, so natural to a Christian in all years, 
 when the Holy Week comes round, seems to come recommended 
 to us this year, by the remarkable circumstance that Good Friday 
 falls on the same day witli the Feast of the Annunciation. Tlie 
 day of our remembering the Lord's death is the same with that 
 on which the Angel came to declare His wonderful Incarnation. 
 The moment in which He emptied Himself of His glory, and 
 took on Him the form of a servant ; and the other moment in 
 which Hk became obedient unto death, even the death of the 
 Cross ; the first beginning and the final consummation of His 
 
SAINT MARY UNDER THE CROSS. 77 
 
 sacrifice ; these two awful moments are in this year's Calendar 
 gathered together in one. The Blessed Virgin seems in a re- 
 markable way to be brought and set by the Cross : and the 
 Church's Collect, for the Feast of her Annunciation, seems to come 
 home to our minds v»'ith more than its usual meaning. For in that 
 Collect we pray that all of us, " as we have known the Incarnation 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ by the message of an Angel, so by His 
 Cross and Passion we may be brought unto the glory of His 
 Resurrection ;" which words seem clearly to connect the Annun- 
 ciation with the Crucifixion, and to set before us in some sort the 
 Mother of our Lord, the highly favoured and deeply afflicted 
 one, as our pattern how to wait on Christ from the beginning to 
 the end, with the Cross always in view. 
 
 Let us then try to fix our minds for a short time, with the best 
 of our weak adoration, on this particular point of our Lord's 
 Passion, that He had His blessed Mother in sight, and tasted to 
 the full that deep and piercing affliction, which dutiful hearts feel, 
 when those dear to them are £ufl:ering, especially if that suffering 
 be on their account. 
 
 We see at once that He graciously teaches us hereby, to turn 
 towards His Cross for a remedy, as in all other sorrows, so in 
 every kind of family distress ; in the sickness, death, and sufi'er- 
 ings of kinsmen or near friends, and in our own sufferings, so far 
 as they affect our friends. No burthen of that kind so heavy, 
 but a man may find strength to bear it, if he will place himself by 
 the Blessed Virgin under the Cross, and look up and hear the 
 gracious words there spoken to her. 
 
 He who recommended to one another's care His Mother and 
 His most favoured Disciple, in some of His last words, when the 
 pains of death had begun ; it cannot be that He should be igno- 
 rant of any part of what His servants feel, when His Providence 
 calls them to separate one from another. He knows it all, for He 
 put it into our minds. He created us at first with that tender 
 affection, which all bear to parents and children, brethren and 
 sisters ; and His Holy Spirit is ever pouring more and more 
 charity into our hearts, if we will but dutifully open them to Him. 
 
 We are sure, therefore, that the gracious Sox of Man feels for 
 and with us His poor creatures, both in our aflliction on losing 
 friends or seeing them suffer, and in the comfort we take in their 
 
78 SAINT MARY UNDER THE CROSS. 
 
 presence when we are afflicted. Hk had before wept at Lazarus' 
 death ; 11k had had compassion on the widowed mother at Naiu ; 
 and now He looks down from His Cross, in the midst of His 
 pangs, and is afflicted in the affliction of Ilis Mother. 
 
 And because, as it seems, she had no near kinsman at hand, 
 and Joseph her husband was probably now dead. He points out 
 one who should do a son's part by her, saying to her, " Behold thy 
 Son," and to him, " Behold thy Mother :" by which He teaches us, 
 that in all our bereavements, the comfort we take in one another's 
 presence and care comes in truth from no other but Him : it is 
 He who provides so wonderfully, as we often see, for those who 
 would otherwise seem to be left helpless : " He is a Father of the 
 fatherless, and defendeth the cause of the widows ;" causing con- 
 tinually some one to be at hand, who can more or less take the 
 place of such as are removed by His chastisements : He will open 
 " fountains in the wilderness, and streams in the desert :" if they 
 look to Him in earnest, they will find cause to say with Hagar, 
 " Thou God seest me." 
 
 And whereas men's earnest affection teaches thera to feel, that 
 after all, nothing can entirely make up for the loss of the person 
 they are mourning for ; "such an one," they say, " may wait on 
 us as well, may do as much for us, but he never can be the same 
 to us as he whom we have lost, because he never can be the very 
 same person :" our Blessed Lord, in His extreme mercy, has pro- 
 vided for this want also, instructing us, that by virtue of our 
 common mysterious Union with Him, we are not entirely sepa- 
 rated from those who seem to be most entirely gone from us. 
 They are not departed, though they have departed ; we are not left 
 altogether witliout them, so long as both they and we are one 
 with Him, who never can leave us ncr forsake us. 
 
 Consider what a difference this would make, what a light it 
 would throw on the death-beds of Christian people, if both the 
 dying and their friends had really such a faith as this, and had 
 lived such lives as not to forfeit the blessing of it : if we felt that 
 althougli persons very dear to us are taken out of sight, they are 
 not taken away from us ; that in Holy Communion especially, 
 when the Priest makes mention of all who have " departed this life 
 in God's faith and fear," they are invisibly with us, as part of the 
 " company of Heaven." 
 
SAINT MARY UNDER THE CROSS. 79 
 
 Again : it seems often bitterly to heighten the sorrows of those 
 who are dying, when they think of leaving those nearest and 
 dearest to them ; they are oppressed with the thought. Who now 
 will care for them, and look after thein ? But here, in our Lord's 
 Passion, such persons have the tenderest assurance, that He will 
 more than make up their loss to those left behind, if not un- 
 worthy : nay, that by virtue of their mystical union with Him, the 
 departed will themselves be present with the survivors, more en- 
 tirely and intimately present with them than in their lifetime. 
 
 And, indeed, the thought of Christ being with those who are 
 left behind, in that very near and wonderful sense in which He 
 is with worthy communicants : — this thought, really received and 
 permitted to sink into the mind, would seem enough to over- 
 power and swallow up all fear and care, about our being separated 
 from them. God seems to say to the mourner, in words like 
 those of His Prophet, " I, even I am He that comforteth you : 
 who art thou, that thou shouldst be dejected on account of a man 
 that was mortal, or of the son of man who was made as grass ; 
 and forgettest the Lord thy Maker, that hath stretched forth the 
 heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth ?" 
 
 Nay, even in that very sad case, when the departing parent or 
 friend has reason to fear, that those for whom he is anxious are 
 going on in such a way as to forfeit the blessed union with Christ, 
 on which all hope and consolation depend : even then the circum- 
 stances of this moment may cause a hope which could hardly be 
 felt otherwise. He who felt so deeply for His Mother, who knows 
 how He may be touched with the tears and anguish of a dying 
 Christian, pleading with Him for those who seem now to be lost 
 sheep, but whom God, v/ith whom all things are possible, may yet 
 restore, if earnestly and constantly called upon ? As we read of 
 the mother of a great saint, herself a great saint too, that when 
 in the early part of her son's life she bewailed his fall bitterly, and 
 seemed almost to despond concerning him, the holy St. Ambrose 
 told her not to despond ; so many prayers were almost certain, 
 one day or another, to prevail, and win him back to God. Thus 
 the Cross is man's hope and remedy, even in that seemingly hope- 
 less case, of one on whom His power has been tried, and who is 
 apparently not the better for it. 
 
 All this, the thought of our dying Lord with His Mother was 
 
80 SAINI' .MARY UNDER THE CROSS. 
 
 meant to be to all Christians : and all this it is to those among 
 Christian mourners, who have in some sort duly prepared them- 
 selves for it ; but not if people have been bred up from the begin- 
 ning in ease and comfort, and never taught seriously to deny 
 themselves ; not if they have been always used to say, " To- 
 morrow shall be as this day, and yet more abundant." Our Lord 
 did not so prepare His blessed Mother for the immense grief 
 and unspeakable disturbance of His Passion : He had been long 
 and effectually, though not always directly, giving her to un- 
 derstand what she had to expect. Very soon after His birth, the 
 prophet, the aged Simeon, after speaking of her Son's glory, adds 
 to herself this most charitable caution : "This Child is set for the 
 fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign that shall 
 be spoken against : yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own 
 soul also." For this, we may conjecture, our Loud had spoken to 
 her, at one time, about His hour coming ; at another time, about 
 His being in His Father's house, and therefore away for a time 
 from her : at another time, about His being a brother and a child, 
 not to her and His blood relations only, but to all men what- 
 ever, who will do the will of God. 
 
 All these sayings, it would appear, would prepare the Virgin 
 by degrees for the awful Cross : and in like manner Christians 
 have plenty of warnings to look on to " the days of darkness, for 
 they will be many." Every day of this sacred time of Lent, of 
 this Holy Week especially, is a notice repeated every year of our 
 lives, that we must prepare to take up the Cross, to bear our 
 share of our Blessed Lord's afflictions, for without doing so it is 
 in vain to think of entering into His glory. They who take that 
 notice, and prepare themselves accordingly, humbling and deny- 
 ing their own souls and bodies, they will be provided and 
 strengthened against temptation and tribulation, when they come, 
 in a manner which now they little dream of : as the Virgin 
 Mother, no doubt, felt herself, she knew net how, strengthened 
 to endure what awaited her under the Cross, by the many tokens, 
 silent or express, which her Holy Son had been always giving 
 her, of a deep tide of affliction rolling on. They will lie the 
 more easily on their own sick bed, and will watch the more 
 calmly and cflcctuully by the sick beds of those who arc dear to 
 them. 
 
SAINT MARY UNDEll THE CROSS. 81 
 
 Were it only on this ground, one might see the use of that 
 self-denial, which the Church orders, and which so many neglect 
 and scorn. It would prepare us to be patient ourselves, and 
 charitable to others, as a nurse or a physician is prepared by the 
 like self-denials. It would introduce us in good time to the 
 House of Mourning ; so that when we are called in our turn to 
 dwell there, it might not seem so strange and confounding to us, 
 but we might have the more presence of mind, to do all our duty, 
 and give God all the glory. 
 
 It is also to be considered, that by such lowly and self-denying 
 habits we put ourselves more nearly into the Blessed Virgin's 
 place, in respect of the nearer knowledge of Christ's dignity 
 and glory, which she had, compared with the other witnesses of 
 His Death. She among them all knew most of His Divine 
 Nature : the secret of His unspeakable Birth was in a peculiar 
 sense hers, the Angelic messages had been sent, and the pro- 
 phetic words addressed to her : as therefore her grief was more 
 than others, so was her preparation to bear it : and we too, in 
 our measure, might be prepared as she was, if we would practise 
 in all things humility and subduing the flesh. For to the hum- 
 ble and self-denying, God reveals His high mysteries : other 
 people say the words of the Creed, but they feel them : the 
 Almighty Jesus, their crucified Lord, makes Himself in an 
 especial manner present to such : so that when they are to bear a 
 somewhat heavier portion of His Cross, they can bear it the 
 better, being endowed with some of His strength. 
 
 But here comes in a serious consideration ; that as far as know- 
 ledge goes, although the Blessed Virgin had so much the advan- 
 tage of the rest who were by the Cross, yet we are not sure that 
 she had the advantage of us. The least in the Kingdom of 
 Heaven, as he is greater than the Old Prophets, or St. John the 
 Baptist, so he knows, by the Church's Creed, that He who died 
 upon the Cross is God made Man, as certainly as the Blessed Virgin 
 knew it her very self. When therefore affliction comes upon us, 
 v/e ought to be found ready to bear it as she did. Whatever be 
 its form, whether sickness and pain of our own, or the sickness 
 of dear friends, and the pain of parting with them, or ill-usage, 
 or want, and doubt about our maintenance ; to us it should always 
 take the form of the Cross : v/e should feel it as placing us there, 
 
 VOL. VT. o 
 
82 SAINT MARY UNDER THE CROSS. 
 
 bv the side of Christ's Holy Mother; and the same thoughts 
 ■which she had to support her, we ought to he furnished with. 
 
 Sad indeed and shameful it is to think, how far otherwise we 
 are too commonly minded. We may put this matter to pre- 
 sent proof, by asking ourselves how it is, that in this very day and 
 hour, we feel concerning our Lord's sufferings (to say the least) 
 so verv little of what a Christian would wish to feel. When we 
 have answered .that question thoughtfully, we shall know what 
 danger we are in, and on what side, of casting away the benefit 
 of our own Cross, whensoever it shall please God of His gra- 
 cious goodness to lay it upon us. 
 
 For instance, it is matter of miserable experience, how impu- 
 rity of heart deadens all feeling of Christ's Presence, how it 
 unfits people for prayer, and makes them dull and indifferent 
 even in these most holy times : and it is unhappily no less cer- 
 tain, that the awful lessons of sickness and death, of sorrow and 
 pain, are lost upon the soul possessed with that unclean spirit : 
 there may be natural tears, there is often softness of feeling, 
 there is sometimes patient kindness in waiting on the afflicted : 
 but the great, the crowning, what one may almost call the Sacra- 
 mental, blessing, offered by God's grace to worthy attendance on 
 such scenes, — I mean their conforming us more and more, and 
 bringing us nearer, to the Cross of our Lord, — this surely is for- 
 feited by unclean thoughts and habits : such an unhappy sinner, 
 without deep and earnest repentance, is not only unfit to imagine 
 hiraielf standing with the Holy Mary, under the Cross of our 
 Lord, but he is unfit to stand by the death-bed of any whom he 
 loves ; there is great fear that the Cross laid upon him will but 
 harden his heart, and make his case worse. What a sin then is 
 impurity of heart, which goes so near to forfeit that last and best 
 chance of amendment, God's afflictions entering in and humbling 
 our souls ! 
 
 And it is net much, if at all, better, if a man's sin be intem- 
 perance or covetousness, or love of case and pleasure, or any 
 thing else entirely selfish. However near we have been brought 
 to Christ, l)y Holy Baptism first, and religious education after- 
 wards, these evil habits will before long entirely separate us from 
 Him ; for they are in fact so many constant endeavours to shake 
 His Cross off from our shoulders. 
 
SAINT MARY UNDER THE CROSS. 83 
 
 Let US be aware of this danger : let us remember that while 
 the Blessed Mary, she who was all Purity and Humbleness, drew 
 near to her suffering Son, and was sustained by Him, there was 
 among those who knew most of His glory, and had been allowed 
 to draw nearest to Him, one who dared not approach His Cross 
 at all, Judas Iscariot, who when he heard of the Passion, was 
 shocked indeed, but despaired instead of amending. We have 
 been admitted to his first privileges, and more : let us dread his 
 end, and worse. 
 
 And as we are sure that the Blessed Virgin never could forget 
 the moment when her Son, who is her God, spake to her in His 
 agony ; so let us strive and pray to remember His Cross in all 
 times and circumstances. If our lot be peaceful and our home 
 happy, let us think with ourselves, " This, with all other blessings, 
 was purchased for me by the wounds and death of our Lord : it 
 is dearly bought, let me at least not abuse it." If, on the other 
 hand, He have begun already to lay His Cross upon us, let us 
 strive daily to grow in purity of heart, and to disengage our- 
 selves from all that is proud, and worldly, and selfish : considering 
 what pity it were, that even the chastisements of God, our last 
 hope, should be thrown away upon us : that the very shadow of 
 the Cross, under which we are brought, should do us no good. 
 
 G 2 
 
SERMON CLXXV. 
 
 THE CHIIISTIAN GOOD-NIGHT. 
 
 PREACHED OX EASTER EIT. 
 
 Psalm iv. 8. 
 
 " I will lay nie down in pence, and take my rest, for if is Thou, Loud, only 
 who makest me dwell in safety." 
 
 This is one of those many verses in the Bible, in the Psahns 
 especially, which must come home to every heart of man, if read 
 with any degree of simple Faith. It sets full before us the most 
 comfortable and refreshing picture of a devout, sober, honest per- 
 son, after his day's work ended, his passions kept in order, his sins 
 repented of, and his prayers seriously said, laying himself down 
 to his night's rest, in the full consciousness that he is neither 
 alone nor unguarded ; that as there has been a merciful Eye watch- 
 ing over him, a mighty Hand stretched out to guard him, through 
 the dangers and temptations of the day, so it will be with him 
 in the night also. His limbs are grown weary, but the Arm of 
 the Lord is not so. His eyelids sink down with sleep, the Eye 
 of the Lord never becomes heavy. Therefore such an one, be 
 he young or old, rich or poor, is able to compose himself to 
 sleep without fear ; although he is more aware than other less 
 thoughtful persons, of the enemies that are around him — the 
 spirits of darkness — who would fain do him harm in his sleep. 
 The considerate Christian knows and thinks more of these than 
 other men do ; l)ut he is not, therefore, afraid of the night, nor 
 of darkness, because he knows and thinks more also of Him 
 who is stronger than all they ; who has encouraged him not to 
 
THE CHRISTIAN GOOD-NIGHT. 85 
 
 be afraid for " the pestilence that walketh in darkness," any more 
 than " for the sickness that destroyeth in the noon-day." 
 
 This entire rest and tranquillity of God's faithful servants, 
 when they lay them down on their bed at night, is beautifully 
 expressed in the text by the words, " I will lay me down in 
 peace," as they stand in the original language. " I will lay me 
 down," says holy David, " all together : " all my powers of mind 
 and body, agreeing as it were one with another; not torn by vio- 
 lent passions, by desire on the one hand and remorse on the other ; 
 not in the condition of the natural man as described by St. Paul, 
 *' The good that I would I do not, but the evil that I would not 
 that I do:" and again, "I delight in the Law of God after 
 the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring 
 against the law of my mind : " not so is it with him, of 
 whom the Psalmist here speaks, but rather he resembles the 
 spiritual man, as described by the same St. Paul : " The very 
 God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole 
 spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the com- 
 ing of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 Another thing seems worth observing here, which indeed I 
 have already touched on : how Catholic, that is. Universal, is 
 the thought expressed by this verse of the Psalmist : there is no 
 one condition or state of life which it suits better than another ; 
 it belongs alike to you, to me, to all. For why ? the need of 
 taking rest in sleep is an universal law of God's Providence over 
 men here in this lower world. In respect of it there is no differ- 
 ence between the highest and the lowest. Therefore, as death, 
 so sleep, may be truly called a great leveller. The greatest king 
 and the meanest of his subjects, whatever difference there is between 
 them at any given time of their waking moments, must alike 
 surrender themselves up, and fall down helpless, and forget 
 themselves in sleep, before a great many hours are over. To 
 every one of us, one as much as another, there v.'ill then be but 
 one chance of safety ; that is, if God should be pleased to watch 
 over us, and be with us, when we are away from ourselves. It 
 is one of God's ways of continually reminding us all, what frail 
 helpless beings we are ; what an absolute nothing without Him. 
 
 But as sleep is the image of death, and as the slumber of every 
 night, rightly understood, is to a Christian a kind of sacraraen- 
 
g(j THE cnUlSTIAN' GOOD-NIGHT. 
 
 tal token of that last long sleep ; so these same words may well 
 be used, and always have been understood by devout persons 
 as most proper for a dying Christian also, " I will lay me down in 
 peace, and take my rest, for it is Thou, Lord, only who malcest 
 me dwell in safety." 
 
 I sav " of a dying Christian : " for such an one only has a war- 
 rant from Holy Scripture to regard death as no more than a quiet 
 sleep. Observe how these expressions, "fallen asleep," " sleep - 
 in"- in Jesus," and the like, are always used in the New Testa- 
 ment. They are constantly employed to denote the death, not 
 of any persons, but of those who die in the Lord. Thus, our 
 Saviour speaking of Lazarus, " Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but 
 I go that I may awake him out of sleep." Thus of the holy 
 Martyr St. Stephen; when he had prayed for his murderers, "he 
 fell asleep." Thus St. Paul speaks with horror of some men's 
 notion that there was no resurrection, because in that case it must 
 follow that those who are " fallen asleep in Christ are perished." 
 Thus, in another place he assures the Thessalonians, that " those 
 who sleep in Jesus He will bring with Him," when He comes to 
 raise the dead. 
 
 Quiet sleep, therefore, is the image of their death, who die as 
 living members of the Holy Jesus : whom the Father, therefore, 
 acknow^ledging them as His children, receives at their death into 
 the Everlasting Arms. As for others who have so lived and died, 
 as finally to forfeit their baptismal privileges, and cut themselves 
 off from the Body of Christ, no such promise, be sure, belongs 
 to them ; they have their part in a very different text : " The 
 wicked," says the Prophet, " are like the troubled sea, when it 
 cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no 
 peace, saith my God, unto the wicked." 
 
 Now as all the blessings which we have or hope for, either in 
 this world or in the next, depend on the Passion of our Lord and 
 Saviour, and are to be referred to it ; so this blessing, of laying 
 ourselves down in peace, and taking our rest, whether in our bed 
 or in our grave, seems to bear an especial relation to the mystery 
 of this day, the burial of Jesus Christ. By virtue of our hea- 
 venly and spiritual union with Him, our buried Lord, we hope for 
 safe and quiet sleep, after the work and service of each day of our 
 trial, and for a slumber yet safer and quieter, when that trial 
 
THE CHRISTIAN GOOD-NIGHT. 87 
 
 is quite over ; a comfortable place in Paradise for our i5ouls, and 
 for our bodies a grave on which God's blessing shall rest. Our 
 warrant for this hope is, that the Son of God died for us, bought 
 us to be His own with His precious blood : bought us to be His 
 own in such sort, that we should be really joined to Him, mysti- 
 cally made members of His Body, and as such have a share, as in 
 His Cross and Passion here, so in the heavenly and eternal good 
 things, wherewith God crowned Him in the world out of sight. 
 As members, inseparable members, of the Man Christ Jesus, we 
 hope to have our bodies buried with Him ; and for our souls, our 
 true selves, we hope that when they pass away from our bodies, 
 they may be with Him that day in Paradise. 
 
 Except we have this hope in us, I do not see how we can well 
 apply to ourselves the comfortable words of the Psalm. For those 
 words are spoken by David in the person of Jesus Christ and 
 His Church, after the manner of most of the Divine Psalms. 
 Whence it follows, that none but members of Christ and His 
 Church, properly speaking, have any right to use those words. 
 But they may : they may truly say with their Lord, " Thou hast 
 set me at liberty when I was in trouble :" they may complain 
 with Him of the children of this world, " blaspheming His and 
 their honour, following vanity, seeking after lies ;" and in like 
 manner, as He said on the Cross, (and they seem to have been 
 His very last words,) " Father, into Thy hands I commend my 
 spirit," so they may, every night of their lives, and stiU more 
 when the night of death draws on, gather and compose all their 
 thoughts and affections into that one most exalting and soothing 
 thought of all, that they are about to fall asleep in His arms. Who 
 long ago, when they were little children, took them up, marked 
 them for His own, and blessed them. 
 
 Let us dwell for a while upon this thought, for surely it must 
 do us good, if we really put our minds to it. How is it that in 
 sleep, and still more in death. Christian men may humbly depend 
 on a peculiar presence of our Lord Jesus Christ to guard 
 them ? 
 
 First, because He is that King, who has promised to His peo- 
 ple Israel, " He will not suffer thy foot to be moved, and He that 
 keepeth thee will not sleep. Behold He that keepeth Israel shall 
 neither slumber nor sleep." Christ is the King: who makes that 
 
83 THE CHRISTIAN GOOD-NIGHT. 
 
 promise, and \ve are the Israel to whom the promise is made. 
 Whether over His whole Church, or over each member of the 
 same who has not forfeited the blessed privilege. His word stands 
 sure ; " The Loud is thy Keeper, the Lord is thy defence on thy 
 right hand, so that the sun shall not burn thee by day, neither 
 the moon by night :" nothing at all shall really hurt thee. And 
 when thou seemest to be most helpless, as in sleep and in death, 
 then is the fatherly care of thy King most engaged to watch over 
 thee, as He watched when thou wast a child, cast on Him from 
 the womb, and on thy mother's breasts. 
 
 Again; as in every other part of our life, — in all things that 
 we do and suffer — so in this act of laying ourselves down, either 
 to sleep or to die, comes in the remembrance and the power of our 
 Lord's sacrifice. That deep sleep of His, on the Cross and in the 
 grave, hath sanctified and blessed the sleep of all penitent Chris- 
 tians for all time to come, whether in their beds or in the bosom 
 of the earth. Doubt it not, there are angels to watch their graves, 
 as they watched His ; so as that not one of their hallowed and 
 purified bodies shall be missing at the last day. And here by the 
 way is one reason more, for dealing more reverentially and cau- 
 tiously with the tombs of the dead, and the places where they lie, 
 than too many are apt to do. 
 
 But in respect of our Lord's Sacrifice, how it makes our sleep 
 quiet we may in some measure understand, by considering what 
 it is which is the great disturber of that sleep : it is Sin, either 
 in itself, or in its punishment — disease and misery. Tlierefore to 
 know that Christ has died for you, and to have a reasonable 
 hope, grounded on a good conscience, that blemished as you are 
 •with many infirmities, you have not forfeited the blessing of His 
 de.ith ; this is the secret of good nights, truly called such, here, 
 and of a quiet and comfortable death-bed when our time shall 
 come. " Good night," in a Christian's mouth, is a solemn word : 
 it is as much as to say, " May the shadow of the Cross be over 
 you ; your sins be forgiven, and you continue a living member of 
 Jesus Christ." 
 
 Once more ; we are taught in Holy Scripture to regard the 
 Holy Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ as one very 
 especial safeguard for the sleeping until they wake, and for the 
 dead until they rise again. In this sense, more particularly, may 
 
THE CHRISTIAN GOOD-NIGHT. 89 
 
 it be said to Jesus Christ, "Thou, Lord, only makest me dwell 
 in safety." " For as the Father hath life in Himself, so 
 hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself ;" the 
 Word of God made flesh, " the last Adam, is a quickening," a 
 life-giving, "spirit." He " quickens our" very " mortal bodies, 
 by His Spirit that dwelleth in us." Now this blessing. He 
 Himself assures us, depends on our partaking of His Body and 
 Blood. " Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink 
 His Blood, ye have no life in you." And no less clearly has He 
 assured us, that the Holy Bread and Wine in the Eucharist is His 
 Body and Blood. 
 
 It is then in those who worthily receive it, as a seed of" hea- 
 venly life, whether they wake, or whether they sleep ; by virtue 
 of that holy Communion, they are the Lord's. And shall we 
 suppose that its virtue ends, when we go out of this world ? 
 Surely the nearer we draw to Christ, the more powerfully may 
 we expect His blessed influences to work upon us. And we have 
 warrant of Scripture for our hope. The Holy Ghost by St. 
 Paul has taught us to think of the burial of a Christian as of 
 sowing seed : sowing that which will indeed outwardly and visibly 
 crumble, decay, and die, but which has yet in it, through all those 
 changes, something which keeps it in a manner alive ; which 
 prepares it for a new manifestation of the life that is in it, and a 
 far better one, before long. Christ's Bodj^ received as He has 
 commanded, is to our bodies " a quickening Spirit." " Doth any 
 man doubt," says the excellent Hooker, " but that even from 
 the Flesh of Christ our very bodies do receive that life which 
 shall make them glorious at the latter day, and for which they are 
 already accounted parts of His Blessed Body ? Our corruptible 
 bodies could never live the life they shall live, were it not that here 
 they are joined with His Body which is incorruptible." If we 
 cannot understand how this should be, neither can we understand 
 how whilst we live we should be truly members of Christ, deriving 
 heavenly life from Him. 
 
 To our brethren, therefore, in the grave and in Paradise, no less 
 than to us who are still on earth, we may apply St. Paul's words : 
 " Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When 
 Christ, who is our life," (theirs and ours alike,) " shall appear, 
 then," and not till then, " shall the clouds roll awav, and the 
 
90 THE CHIllSTJAN GOOD-NIGHT. 
 
 mystery be made plain:" then " shall wc," they and wc together 
 (for wc arc not to prevent them) ; all, 1 say, together " shall 
 appear with Him in glory." Till then, it will be all a secret ; and 
 as Hooker says again, " The strength of our faith will be tried by 
 those things wherein our wits and capacities are not strong." 
 
 Any how, we cannot believe that the heavenly life, in a Chris- 
 tian continuing such to the end, can ever die ; since our Lord 
 has expressly said, " I am the Resurrection and the Life ; whoso- 
 ever believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and 
 whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die." Abraham, 
 Isaac, and Jacob, " all live unto Him ;" but he that is least in the 
 Kint'dom of Heaven is greater than they ; and therefore, if we 
 will speak correctly, no Christian at all can properly be called 
 dead ; their bodies, indeed, sleep for a while, but even they have 
 in them the seed of a new life ; and their souls are not only 
 living, but in Paradise : that is, in consciousness, hope, and com- 
 fort, though not yet in perfect consummation and bliss. And of 
 all this the holy Communion is the seal, conveying to us the benefit 
 of His death. His burial. His descent into Hell. Who is the true 
 and only Cause and Author of all. 
 
 And what if the whole be covered, I will not say with clouds 
 and darkness, but with the skirts of that overpowering glory, 
 which will be about our Blessed Lord, when He shall come at 
 last in our sight ? Yet surely the use and comfort of it all is under 
 no cloud, no darkness whatever. Is there a night of our lives, 
 which we might not, if we would, sanctify and bless with this 
 tliought ; that our lying down to rest is indeed a kind of token, a 
 remembrance and rehearsal of our Lord's burial, as plainly and 
 as certainly as sleep is an image of death ; and that we, as mem- 
 bers of Him, may humbly hope for such care over us, both in our 
 beds and in our graves, as guarded His Blessed Body, during this 
 day's brief and mysterious rest ? Can we look at a sleeping child, 
 or watch by the slumbers of any one whom we love, or whom we 
 are trusted with, and not enter, however faintly, into the transport- 
 ing yet awful thought, that every moment of their deep quietness 
 is the fruit of His presence, and the purchase of His blood ? Is it 
 no comfort, when wc part with a Christian brother or sister, to 
 know that if they were such as they seemed, they really arc not 
 dead, no, not for i\>v)iilc : their souls are with Christ, and Christ 
 
THE CHRISTIAN GOOD-NIGHT. 91 
 
 with their bodies in the grave ? Is it no gain in our own dying 
 hours, to be rid of perplexing cares and fears, such as even 
 faithful men, wanting these consolations, are apt to be tried with, 
 concerning the condition of our ovv'n souls and bodies, between 
 death and resurrection ? Finally, is it not one reason more, why 
 the young should make haste to communicate, lest they die 
 without the seed of immortality in them ; why those who have 
 begun, should communicate often, to cherish and quicken that 
 spark of divine life ; why all should be very much afraid of coming 
 unworthily, lest they stifle and quench it utterly, and depart, after 
 all, not living members of Christ ? 
 
SERMON CLXXVI. 
 
 CHRISTIAN UPRISING. 
 
 PREACHED ON EASTER DAY. 
 
 Psalm iii. 5. 
 " I laid Mc down and slept, and rose up again ; for the Lord sustained Me." 
 
 Ik Christians would but observe what they read or hear in the 
 Bible, and what they experience in life, and compare diligently 
 the one with the other, they would find that the whole world 
 around them is, in a certain sense, full of divine tokens ; every 
 thing almost would put them in mind, more or less directly, of 
 Jesus Christ our Saviour, and they would see that God meant 
 it so to do : much in the same way as, when people's hearts are 
 turned any way, towards any thing on earth, with entire aftcction, 
 whatever they see, hear, or meet with, reminds them, they hardly 
 know how, of that beloved object. Our Saviour, perhaps, meant 
 something of this kind, when He told His disciples that " every 
 Scribe instructed into the Kingdom of Heaven is like ujito a man 
 that is an householder, who bringeth out of his treasures things 
 new and old ;" that is, as it has been explained, " the old things 
 of nature," and of this world of sight and sgnse, " and the new 
 things of grace," and of the other world, which is only known by 
 faith. A well-instructed Christian heart, He seems to say, will 
 know how to connect these two one with another ; — will discern 
 what jiart of Gou's mysterious dealings with us through Jesus 
 Christ maybe fitly represented as in parable, by the several ways 
 of His Providence, as seen in the things of this world; — \\ill un- 
 derstand, in short, "all parables;" that is Christ's own word. 
 
CHRISTIAN UPRISING. 93 
 
 What I mean is not, perhaps, clear : I will try and explain it 
 by some examples. We know that our Saviour is called " the 
 Sun of Righteousness," " the Davspring from on high," and that 
 on that account particular respect has been shown, in various 
 ordinances of the Church Catholic, to the east above all the other 
 quarters of the heaven ; we know that on Christmas-Day that 
 Psalm is used, which speaks of Him as the Sun coming out of His 
 chamber, like a bridegroom, and " rejoicing as a giant to run His 
 course." Whoever has considered these things, if he be a true 
 lover of Christ, will never be able to see the sun rise, without 
 thinking of Him who is the true light of the world ; and thus so 
 common a thing as the sunrise, a thing which must happen every 
 day so long as the world lasts, is made a token, — the old Chris- 
 tians would call it a sacrament, — of a great mystery of divine faith 
 and salvation. 
 
 The sun rising in the east is nature's token, to remind us of 
 Christmas-Day ; and here in the text, if we consider it well, we 
 find a no less clear token of the mysteries of this solemn time of 
 Easter : our Lord dying and rising again. " I laid me down and 
 slept, and rose up again, for the Lord sustained me :" once let it 
 be well understood that the Psalms all relate to Jesus Christ, 
 to His Church, and to His Members, and it will be very clear 
 that this verse, plain and simple as it sounds, contains a deep 
 mvstery also. If the Person who speaks is Jesus Christ, no 
 doubt His lying down is His death upon the Cross, His sleep is 
 the rest which He took, from Friday evening to Sunday morn- 
 ing, in the sepulchre, which Joseph's faithful love had provided 
 for Him : His rising up again is that glorious awaking, and burst- 
 ing of the bonds of death, which makes the Church joyful this 
 day, and every Sunday in the year. 
 
 Neither is it any thing new, to have such a verse as this ap- 
 plied to the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of our Lord. The 
 old Fathers and Bishops so explained it from the very beginning 
 of the Church ; and one of them in particular, would have us 
 observe the particular stress to be laid on the word "I" in this 
 verse. It so stands in the Hebrew language, in which David 
 spake by the Holy Ghost, as to mean " I myself" and no other, 
 I of mine own accord and free will, '•' laid me down and slept, 
 and rose up again ; for the Lord sustained Me." Thus it sig- 
 
94 CHRISTIAN UPRISING. 
 
 nifies our Lord's own voluntary consent and purpose, in all that 
 happened to Him ; according to that saying of His, " Therefore 
 doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I 
 might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it 
 down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have 
 power to take it again. Not against Mine own will, therefore, 
 did you seize and slay Me ; but it was I who laid Me down, slept 
 so long as I pleased, and rose up again when I would." 
 
 Thus speaks the holy Bishop St. Augustin of the meaning of 
 this Psalm. Upon his authority, and that of the whole Church, 
 we conclude that the words, " I laid Me down and slept, and rose 
 up again," plain and simple as they sound, contain in them a 
 great mystery, the beginning and end of a Christian's hope, the 
 death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 
 
 And surely we do well to connect that mystery with our own 
 lying down and rising up, as often as night and morning return. 
 Sleep, to all men, even to the heathen and unbeliever, has always 
 seemed an image of death ; to a Christian it is an image of the 
 death of Christ; and not only an image, but a token from above, 
 a sign and pledge from the Truth itself, that He died, and died 
 for us. Rising again in the morning may be to Jews or Heathens 
 a ground of hope, that possibly, for aught they know, God may 
 provide for us even after death : but to Christian people it is as a 
 word from Heaven, a promise and warning, though a silent one, 
 that by the virtue of Him who is the Resurrection and the Life, 
 we, too, shall rise again ; we shall but sleep in our graves, and 
 never really die. In a word, our daily lying down and rising up 
 is given us for a sacramental sign and pledge of Christ's death 
 and resurrection, and of our own. 
 
 Tims we see that Christmas and Easter have each their out- 
 ward and visible sign, something to remind us of them, in the 
 common course of life, which every one of us has to go through 
 continually. "Whitsuntide, too, has its own proper token, chosen 
 out among natural things, and assigned to it by the highest of all 
 authorities ; but I will not say more of that until the time comes. 
 At present the season itself leads us to consider, what use we 
 should make of the mystery of our own sleep and awakening, 
 taught as we are by Scripture and the Church the high things 
 which are betokened therein. 
 
, CHRISTIAN UPRISING. 95 
 
 I say, the Mystery of our daily sleep and awakening ; for, little 
 as we are apt to reflect on it, surely these things are in themselves 
 as mysterious as any thing can be. Who knows any thing about 
 his own dropping asleep ? It comes on hke the dew from Heaven, 
 without any consciousness of ours at the time, neither do we re- 
 member any thing of it when we wake up again. It leaves us, 
 to all appearance, perfectly helpless, exposed to every danger and 
 enemy ; we can do nothing for ourselves, no more than a child 
 just born, no more than a corpse from which the life has departed : 
 so that, as I have somewhere read, it seems probable that when 
 the first man began to fall asleep for the first time after his crea- 
 tion, he might well think he was going to melt away, and pass 
 altogether out of being. 
 
 Thus our falling asleep is a Mystery, a thing which takes 
 place we know not how, a thing out of our own power, as much so 
 as death itself; and then what becomes of us during our sleep ? 
 where is that gone which was just before so active within us, our 
 mind, heart, and soul, a few minutes ago so full of thought and 
 life and feeling ? where is it gone ? how is it employed ? what 
 happens to it ? what are those dim and unaccountable and 
 shadowy thoughts, which so often seem to engage it, in what we 
 call dreams ? And more especially, how and why does it come 
 back .'' who fixes the time, who gives the signal, who furnishes us 
 with the power to wake up all of a sudden, and be our former 
 selves again .'' 
 
 All these things have befallen us, every time we have slept and 
 awakened, from our birth even until now : and which of us all knows 
 really more about them, or can explain them better, than he could 
 the first hour he was born ? To the simplest child alike, and to 
 the wisest man, it is a great and inconceivable mystery, how all 
 this comes to pass ; how he lies down and becomes so helpless and 
 unconscious, and passes for awhile out of himself, and then rises 
 up alive and the same, only strengthened and refreshed, in mind 
 as well as body, by having, in appearance, lost all power for a 
 time. 
 
 "When we duly consider this, it may help us to believe, though 
 of course we never shall be able in this world to understand, how 
 that longer sleep, which we call Death, may come on us v/e know 
 not how, and leave our bodies without power or thought for av/hile, 
 
96 CHRISTIAN UPRISING. . 
 
 our souls in the mean time departing we know not where, and 
 employed we know not how, and yet we continuing the same 
 persons that we were, and sure, by and by, to be wakened up, and 
 find ourselves again the same, our souls again joined to our bodies, 
 and all our thoughts and powers in a wonderful manner quickened, 
 made more active and wakeful than ever, so as even to endure an 
 eternity of pain or enjoyment, without ever ceasing to feel, or 
 losing our consciousness, as we now do in sleep, any more. Hk 
 who can do the one of these miracles in us, can doubtless do the 
 other, if He will. Th^ Lord who hath sustained us so often when 
 we lay down and slept, and caused us to rise again in safety ; 
 He can sustain us in like manner through the sleep of death. 
 And He will do so, for His sure word is given. " All that are in 
 the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth ; they that 
 have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have 
 done evil unto the resurrection of damnation." 
 
 But further ; it may be that there is a still higher and more 
 awful depth of Mystery in the Psalmist's words, spoken as they 
 are in His Person, who is both God and Man, It is as if we 
 heard Christ Himself, risen from the tomb, and saying, " I laid 
 me down and slept, and rose up again : for the Lord sustained 
 me." Doubtless the Lord sustained the Incarnate Son through 
 those hours of death and burial, in a different sense, an infinitely 
 deeper and higher sense, than as He sustains the ordinary children 
 of men, either in sleep, against their awakening, or in death, against 
 their resurrection. The Lord, the most High and glorious God- 
 head, still in our Saviour's Person, inseparably joined to His 
 human Soul and Body, even while the one was in the grave, and 
 the other in Paradise, or elsew^here in the regions of the dead, — Hk 
 still continued the same Christ, very God and very Man, and 
 by virtue of that Eternal Spirit, He raised Himself from the 
 dead when His time was come. So that it may and must be 
 said, that the Most High God died and was buried, descended 
 into hell, rose again the third day from the dead, yet all the while 
 abiding unchanged in Mis eternal glory and tranquillity, above the 
 heavens and the heaven of heavens. 
 
 This we mubt own and confess with adoring hearts, for this the 
 Word of God, written in His book, and entrusted to His Church, 
 plainly teaches ; and what if it seem to us inconceivable ? Surely 
 
CHUISTIAN UPRISING. 97 
 
 what happens in our o'\\ti sleeping and waking would seem to us 
 no less inconceivable, if it were only described to us, and we had 
 no experience of it. Let us not, therefore, make any question 
 about it, but rather in silence bow down, and admire that un- 
 speakable love, which for our sake devised how to bring the 
 very depth and height of all things together ; that the Lord of 
 Glory should lie in the grave, and a crucified Man be over all, 
 blessed for ever. 
 
 And let us take notice what gracious help is afforded, to those 
 who are willing so to lift up their hearts, by Christ's making so 
 common a matter as our daily sleep and awakening a token and 
 sign of this most awful Mystery. As often as the morning comes, 
 and God's Providence arouses us out of our slumbers, it is, if we 
 will but so take it, a token and remembrance from Him, of His 
 having once lain in the grave for us, and raised Himself again by 
 the power of His indwelling Godhead. " The Lord sustained 
 Him ;" His own divine power kept up, even in the grave, that 
 union of God and Man, which He had once for all begun in the 
 womb of the Blessed Virgin. 
 
 This is, perhaps, more than any thing else, the immediate and 
 direct meaning of this saying in the Psalm. It speaks of our 
 Lord's own Body : but see what follows from it, with regard to all 
 of us His people, members of that Body which was so laid in the 
 grave. Of us too, surely, the word is spoken : the Lord, that is, 
 Christ dwelling in us, will sustain us also when we lie down and 
 sleep. We are made members of Him by holy Baptism ; He then 
 justifies us, coming to dwell mysteriously but really in our souls 
 and bodies, making us temples of the Living God : as says the 
 evangelical Psalm, " Thou hast received gifts for men, yea for 
 the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them:" 
 and it is His will from time to time to perfect and repair that 
 union and indwelling, by the Holy Sacrament of his own Body and 
 Blood : as He Himself declared, " He that eateth My flesh and 
 drinketh My blood dwelleth in Me, and I in him." 
 
 Doubt it not, my Christian brethren ; Christ is in the meanest, 
 the least of His people, as a lifegiving Spirit, a fountain of eter- 
 nal life : and if it be life eternal, will it leave a man when his 
 time comes to die, and be turned again to his dust ? No : it will 
 not leave him ; to God he will still live, if he die in faith : even 
 
98 cHRiariAN uprising. 
 
 in the grave, he will abide a Member of Christ. He may lie 
 down and sleep, and seem alone and helpless, but he has That 
 within him which still sustains him, still keeps him in true com- 
 munion with God. 
 
 The Lord is with him in the grave and in Paradise ; therefore 
 he is not really dead, but sleepeth, and is sure to rise again in 
 glory. And so that is fulfilled in all obedient Christians, which 
 our Saviour promised to Martha, and which He promises anew 
 to us every time we attend a funeral : " I am the Resurrection and 
 the Life," saith the Lord : "he that believeth in Me, though he 
 were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth 
 in Me shall never die." He does not say " shall die and rise 
 again," but " shall never die :" though he be what men call dead, 
 to God he is really living : his faith keeps up his communion with 
 .Jesus Christ, dwelling in him to be his life and righteousness ; 
 therefore, in fact, he never dies. 
 
 Such, Christian brethren, are the high and unspeakable privi- 
 leges of all whom Christ has made Members of Himself, so 
 long as they keep their promise and vow made in Baptism. It is 
 not simply that they lie down at night on their beds at peace 
 with God and with man, and take their rest quietly, in the strength 
 of a good conscience, and rise in the morning and go about their 
 day's work, in the sweet and comfortable hope that the All- 
 seeing God is with them, to bless and support them. Nor 
 is it only that when they lie down to die, they may without pre- 
 sumption look forward in their hearts to a blessed Resurrection 
 hereafter. There is another thing yet better and higher than 
 both of these ; namely, that Christ, even now abiding in them, 
 makes them already in this world partakers of a h^eavenly and 
 divine life. He sustains them sleeping and waking, in life and 
 in deatli, in their beds and in their graves ; for in both conditions 
 they are alike Members of Him. Dying, they partake of His 
 Cross and Passion, and they are to rise again, and live for ever, 
 in virtue of His glorious and happy Resurrection. 
 
 Hut all this, as I said before, depends on our keeping our bap- 
 tismal vows ; or, if we have unhappily broken them by wilful sin, 
 on our recovering our spiritual health by a deep, true, and timely 
 repentance : a repentance, earnest and laborious in proportion to 
 our fall. This should be the one business of the life of everv one 
 
CHRISTIAN UPRISING. 99 
 
 of Christ's people, the only subject of the advice of His Minis- 
 ters. Christ has united you, once for all, to Himself ; perse- 
 vere, if you have not fallen ; if you have, recover. 
 
 Now what the means are of recovery or perseverance, we must 
 ask every man his own conscience, and the Word and Church of 
 God : I will now only just mention one or two of the chief rules, 
 which all alike have need to remember. 
 
 First ; since it is Christ only who sustains us, whether in our 
 lying down, or sleeping, or rising up, how dare any of us lie 
 down or rise up without solemnly committing himself to Christ, 
 on his knees, in devout prayer ? If our falling asleep and waking 
 are so like death and resurrection, and if we would not willinglv 
 die without a little leisure to make our peace with God, why do we 
 not make leisure for our confessions, every night before we sleep ? 
 Why do we not even force ourselves to keep awake, until we have 
 with all seriousness asked pardon for the past, and help and grace 
 for the future } If we are crucified and risen again with Christ, 
 surely it is unnatural for us either to sleep or wake without earn- 
 est thought of Christ. 
 
 Private devotion, then, punctual prayer in Christ's Name, not 
 carelessly done, but as a solemn service, and if health permit, on 
 our knees, must be one great help, towards saving or recovering 
 the heavenly life, which our Lord offers to sustain in us. 
 
 Another, no less needful one, is the Holy Communion of His 
 Body and Blood. This is the Sacrament of Perseverance and 
 Growth in Grace, as Baptism is of Repentance and Regeneration. 
 The heavenly life, which Christ has begun in us, can be sustained 
 in no other way, besides that which He has appointed. What 
 way is that ? Let His own words answer : " Except ye eat the 
 Flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His Blood, ye have no life in 
 you." The Holy Sacrament then of the Eucharist, received if 
 possible early in life, and when once received never given up, is 
 the best medicine to sustain us in death and resurrection. It is 
 the very seed of eternal life within us : as our Lord says again 
 in the same awful discourse, " Whoso eateth My Flesh, and 
 drinketh My Blood, hath" (not " will have" but " hath") " eter- 
 nal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." And again, 
 " As the Living Father hath sent Me, and I live bv the Father. 
 so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me." 
 
100 CHRISTIAN UPRISING. 
 
 Praver, then, and the Holy Communion are necessary to all ; 
 and deep, hearty, painful Compunction, not passing away as fear 
 or antrer might, but continuing, is no less needful to as many of 
 us as have ever wilfully broken our baptismal vow. We must 
 never be content with our past repentance, and think, because 
 our grief then was sincere, the sin so repented of is blotted out, 
 clean out of God's book, and become as if it had never been. 
 Rather, as men come to know more of God and goodness, they 
 wiU be the more grieved and angry with themselves, will entertain 
 the graver thoughts of their own past transgressions. 
 
 Let us not fear then to vex and punish ourselves, that we do 
 not so entirely and bitterly repent, as we ought and wish to do. 
 Let us cordially beseech God, after the example of holy Bishop 
 Wilson, to make the remembrance of our sins more grievous to 
 us than it is. Let some of our first waking thoughts, and of our 
 last before we sleep, be of our own great unworthiness. Sinners 
 as we are all, most of us backsliders, let us neither confidently 
 look for, nor talk as if we had, assurance and entire satisfaction. 
 Let us pray and labour to have this one sign of His pardon, that 
 we grow daily more diligent in pleasing Him ; and so much com- 
 fortable hope withal, as He shall see needful for our doing the 
 work He has assigned to us. For the rest, as we are nightly 
 content to lie dovm and sleep, trusting our bodies with our 
 Creator, although we must be more or less uncertain whether 
 we shall ever wake again ; so let us make up our minds, if it 
 be His will, to go on doubting and fearing, more or less, even to 
 the end ; doubting and fearing, what manner of persons we are 
 in the sight of our Judge and Redeemer. It will be a wholesome 
 doubt, a strengthening fear, if it make us more afraid of sin, 
 more diligent in keeping the commandments. 
 
SERMON CLXXVIL 
 
 CHRIST THE KING OF ANGELS. 
 
 PREACHED ON ASCENSION-DAY. 
 
 ] St Peter iii. 22. 
 
 " Who is gone into Heaven, and is on the right hand of GoD; Angels and 
 Authorities and Powers being made subject unto Him." 
 
 It is most certain that, when we have done our best, we cannot 
 lift up our minds and hearts fully to understand the unspeakable 
 glory which the Son of GdD, as He is also Son of Man, obtained 
 as on this day : when He, who a little more than forty days before 
 had been a worm and no man, a very scorn of men and the out- 
 cast of the people, was " set at His Father's right hand in the 
 heavenly places, far above all principality and power, and might 
 and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this 
 world, but in that also which is to come, and had all things put 
 under His feet, and was given to be head over all things." We 
 cannot, I say, realize this in our thoughts, even as we cannot 
 know or imagine the place where the visible though spiritual Body 
 of our Blessed Lord now is, or how, or which way. He was re- 
 ceived up through the air when He hid Himself in a cloud from 
 the sight of His servants, they stedfastly looking after Him. 
 
 They saw Him departing, yet could they no more imagine the 
 manner of His departure than we now can. But did that hinder 
 them from musing and meditating upon it } Nay, their very 
 hearts and minds went after Him, and did in a manner continually 
 
 VOL. VI. I 
 
102 CHRIST THE KING OF ANGELS. 
 
 dwell with Him. "They worshipped Him, and returned to Jeru- 
 salem with great joy : and were continually in the Temple, 
 praising and blessing God." Christ ascended into Heaven took 
 up their thoughts day and night : they were never satisfied with 
 the wondering and adoring remembrance of it, and with hymning 
 and praising the Almightt for that last and greatest of miracles. 
 But did they think of it only as a miracle ; or were not their 
 thoughts rather taken up with the portion which they tliemselves 
 had in it, and all whom Christ came to save ? 
 
 We indeed are but little able to enter into the thoughts of 
 Apostles, of the favoured friends of Jesus Christ, accustomed 
 to His Divine words and looks, when they saw Him in His very 
 Body, His Crucified Body, ascending up into Heaven. But we 
 may understand that this was a part of their feelings ; that now 
 One, who is true Man as we are, — who can enter into our joys . 
 and sorrows, our hopes and fears, — He is set in the highest place, 
 over all created things. And He carries with Him there the 
 same tender love towards the meanest of His faithful servants 
 which He ever vouchsafed to exercise here. He still loves to 
 be called on by the afflicted with earnest and most persevering 
 prayer. He is ready, as of old, to reply to the woman of Canaan, 
 " O woman, great is thy faith, be it unto thee even as thou wilt." 
 There are still families which He loves with distinguishing and 
 peculiar love, — as he loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus ; 
 and there are graves beside which He waits, as He did by that of 
 Lazarus, in deep and tender pity for the sorrows of those who 
 are tried by separation and bereavement. 
 
 His going up into Heaven was to the Apostles, who remem- 
 bered these things, a sign that though absent froin us visibly in 
 the Body, He would yet be (if I may say so) more present than 
 ever in Spirit with the children of men, in all their cares, and 
 griefs and anxieties. It was a sign of " the Manhood " being 
 so "taken into God," that He would always (so to speak) be on 
 our side, in all our struggles and conflicts, spiritual and temporal, 
 if only we do not cast Him from us. 
 
 It was, in some sort, as if one's nearest and dearest relation 
 were made absolute king of the country. If persons who care 
 for earthly things would rejoice in such a change as that, and 
 consider their own fortune made, how much more joy to those 
 
CHRIST THE KING OF ANGELS. 103 
 
 who care for heavenly things, when we set our hearts to consider 
 that He Who " is not ashamed to call us brethren," He Who 
 loved us so well that He laid down His life for us in torment. He 
 is made the Great King in Heaven and Earth, and has all the 
 treasures of grace and glory put for ever into His hand. 
 
 In this, we see at once, is included every good thing. But for 
 the present there is one blessing in particular on which I wish to 
 say a few words. It is, the subjection of the spiritual world to 
 our Saviour, expressed by St. Peter in the words of the text, 
 that " Angels and Authorities and Powers were made subject " 
 to the Son of Man when He went into Heaven, and sat down 
 on the right hand of God. That is to say, that not only the 
 things which we see, the sun, and moon, and stars, the earth and 
 the waters, the bodies of men, their health and sickness, and all 
 that we call the course of this world, is under the command of 
 His Eternal Providence, Who is pledged to make all things work 
 together for good to them that love Him ; but also the worlds 
 out of sight, the spiritual and heavenly world, is entirely ordered 
 by Him. 
 
 Now, this is a great thing for us to know ; a great comfort in 
 our natural fears and misgivings ; a great encouragement to well- 
 doing ; and a most serious warning against all carelessness 
 and sin. 
 
 We naturally think, even from our childhood — at least, all 
 thoughtful children think — a good deal of the spiritual world : of 
 beings out of sight, who yet, for aught we know, may often be 
 very near us, and may have great power to do us good, or to 
 hurt us in body and soul. What are the many stories and imagi- 
 nations about spirits appearing, and tokens from unseen beings, 
 and the like, of which most of us have at times heard so much ; 
 what are they all, but signs that we feel how many things are 
 about us which we do not see ? They are providential ways of 
 instructing us, how fearful it wovdd be were our eyes suddenly 
 opened ; and how greatly, therefore, we need some assurance that 
 we are not left alone and helpless, in regard of this unseen world, 
 any more than in regard of that world, which we discern by our 
 bodily senses, and which therefore seems nearer to us. 
 
 Now the Ascension of our Lord is such a token : it assures us, 
 that however deep our solitude, however overpowering our sense 
 
 I 2 
 
104 CHRIST THE KING OF ANGELS. 
 
 of spiritual beings possibly near us, One is at hand like-minded 
 with ourselves. Who can pity all our misgivings, as well as protect 
 us in all dangers. In darkness as in light, in desolation as in 
 pleasant places, in melancholy as in cheerful hours. He is still the 
 same. Could we but bring home to ourselves His most mysterious, 
 but most certain Presence, we need not " be afraid for any terror 
 by night," any more than " for the arrow that flieth by day." 
 The whole world unseen, we are sure, is under Him, no less than 
 the world which we see. And committing ourselves to Him by 
 serious praver, will ever be as effectual a safeguard against the 
 unknown dangers of our spiritual Being, as against those of our 
 natural Being, which we can in some measure understand and 
 foresee. Thus the Disciples found Jesus at hand to relieve them, 
 as certainly, when supposing Him to be a Spirit, they " cried out 
 for fear," as when in the violent storm on the same lake, they 
 woke Him with the appeal, " Lord save us ! we perish." 
 
 Consider the matter in this way. The Bible teaches that there 
 are two worlds, in the midst of which we all live, did we but know 
 it, and remember it ; the one visible, the other invisible : and 
 that there are in the invisible world two sorts of Angels, Autho- 
 rities and Powers, with both of which we are concerned ; with 
 the one, as friends and fellow-servants ; with the other, as un- 
 relenting enemies. And the thought of our Lord gone up into 
 Heaven, and sitting on the right hand of God, is a thought of 
 great power to set us right in our feelings towards both these 
 awful sorts of Beings. 
 
 Consider, first, what a thing it is to know that the good 
 Angels are on our side : that they camp about us to deliver 
 us: that as Christ Himself in His distress had but to pray 
 to His Father, and He would presently have given Him 
 more than twelve legions of Angels, so the members of Christ, 
 in their several agonies of body and mind, have but to pray to the 
 Almighty, and who knows but the same Holy Messengers, most 
 likely unknown to them, will receive some commission to do them 
 good ? As they came to Daniel, to shut the lions' mouths ; as they 
 were like an army with horses and chariots of fire round about 
 Elisiia ; as they opened the prison doors of Jerusalem, and let out 
 first all the Apostles, then St. Peter, on the eve of martyrdom ; 
 as in the Book of Revelation they are introduced continually. 
 
CHRIST THE KING OF ANGELS. 105 
 
 helping the Saints in their prayers, assuring them of blessings, 
 taking their side in their warfare with the world : even so it 
 is now. 
 
 In these instances, there is no doubt of the Angelical ministry and 
 help : but these are but a few out of many beyond number. In these, 
 the Powers of Heaven showed themselves : but in fact, they are con- 
 tinually acting, continually ministering to such as shall be heirs 
 of salvation. So the prayer of Elisha runs : " Lord," (he does 
 not say, " Send Thine Angel and deliver us," but what he says is,) 
 " Open the eyes of this young man, that he may see :" as though 
 he might have seen the same at any time, if he would but have 
 opened his eyes. 
 
 What a view does this present, of the unspeakably watch- 
 ful and tender care of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 
 over the very humblest and meanest of His servants ! that 
 the whole army of Angels and Archangels, all the Hosts 
 of the Lord, are set in array for each one of our defence 
 and salvation : ready and glad to refresh us, the Members of 
 Christ, as they did Him who is our Head, after great and sore 
 temptation : to prompt those who wait on us with thoughts for 
 our good, as the Angel that spake to Joseph in a dream : to 
 strengthen us in agonv, as he who appeared to our Lord in the 
 garden : to remove difficulties, and declare good tidings ; as he 
 who rolled away the stone, and declared, " The Lord is risen." 
 This certaintv of Angelical aid, so far as we are on Christ's side, 
 we have by His Exaltation into Heaven, and the subjection to 
 Him of Angels, Authorities and Powers. 
 
 But those words, doubtless, mean the evil Angels as well as the 
 good ; our unseen enemies, as well as our unseen friends. And is it 
 not worth a great deal to know, that the power of our Saviour is 
 over them also, — His restraining power, to keep them from harming 
 us^ — as His gracious encouraging power is with the good Angels, 
 commissioning them to help us to all kinds of blessings ? Of this, 
 also, there were wonderful tokens given in the course of our 
 Lord's abode on the Earth : first and chiefly, in the Temptation, 
 when He overcame Satan in the wilderness ; and afterwards in the 
 power which He continually exercised over the unclean Spirits, 
 not only casting them out Himself, but giving power to His Dis- 
 ciples to do the same. And in one very particular instance. He 
 
106 CHRIST THE KING OF ANGELS. 
 
 showed us something of the unseen dangers to which we should 
 he continually exposed, in body and estate as well as in spirit, 
 were it not for His continual care to bind Satan, and keep him in 
 chains. The instance I mean is that of the legion of devils, who 
 were driven out of the men possessed with them, and permitted 
 to take possession of a herd of swine ; " and behold, the whole 
 herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished 
 in the waters." 
 
 By this we see what would become of us, if God were to take 
 off the chain, with which Satan, since Christ's coming in the 
 flesh, has been more than ever hound. We see that there are bad 
 Angels, powers of mischief and darkness, waiting around us on 
 every side, ready to huny us away into utter destruction both of 
 soul and body, the moment that He in His anger shall let them 
 loose. It is the power of our Lord Christ, sitting at His 
 Father's Right Hand, that binds them. It is He who says to 
 them, Thus far shalt thou go, and no further. Without His 
 permission, we see, they could not hurt so much as a herd of 
 swine ; with it, the single case of Job shows, how they may vex 
 and torment even good men ; and the case of Judas shows still 
 more fearfully what they are allowed to do with the bad, and with 
 those who will not take Christ's warnings. 
 
 And, both as to good and bad Angels, we must remember that 
 what they do to us in this world is but a faint type and shadow of 
 what we may expect from them in the world to come : in that 
 last great day, when the one shall gather together God's elect like 
 wheat into His barn ; the other shall be cast, with all impenitent 
 sinners, into the lake of everlasting fire. 
 
 In these awful and overpowering reflections, let this be our 
 stay and our warning : that in the world of Angels as well as of 
 men, Christ ascended into Heaven is supreme, and that He has 
 promised to order and direct their power, and even the malice of 
 the bad ones, so as may best work for the good of them that 
 love Him. Nay, His Holy Scriptures teach that we, being united 
 to Him by His Holy Spirit, are in some mysterious way ascended 
 into Heaven with lIiM ; therefore we, through Him, except we 
 have lost our hold of Him by our sins, have power to resist and 
 overcome the bad spirits, and are permitted to depend on the 
 succour and protection of the good. 
 
CHRIST THE KING OF ANCxELS. 107 
 
 These thoughts are not mere imaginations : they are great and 
 true reahties. They are true and real at all times : only, while 
 we are in light and company, they are harder for us fully to 
 receive. But in a few hours we shall be in the darkness ; our 
 day's work will be over ; we shall be more alone, and more at 
 leisure to think. Let us recall to our minds, then, what we have 
 been taught of the Presence of the two sorts of Angels, Let us 
 then fancy to ourselves the evil and unclean spirits lying in wait 
 near our beds, ready to vex us with all sorts of bad thoughts, 
 and to torment our very bodies, if God would give them leave. 
 Such imaginations are painful and distressing ; yet let us not turn 
 away from them, till they have filled us with a real fear of con- 
 senting to any bad thought, for that is the only way in which we 
 can give those evil companions power over us. 
 
 Let us not try to put out of our minds the notion of the bad 
 Angels being around us, until we have turned in serious prayer to 
 Him Who for our sake holds them in chains. Imagine Christ 
 our Lord on His Throne, to which He this day ascended : 
 imagine Him, how His Eye is ever fixed, both on you in your 
 helpless slumbering condition, and on your adversary waiting to 
 hurt you. And be sure, that if before you lay down you seriously 
 and reverently committed yourself to Him in prayer, with sincere 
 penitence for all your sins. He will not let the roaring lion devour 
 you. You may, without presumption, imagine Him, then, saying 
 to some of His good Angels, " Here is one who lay down to 
 rest, desiring to dwell under the defence of the Most High ; 
 here is one who hath sought, day and night, to abide under the 
 shadow of the Almighty ; he hath set his love upon Me, and 
 tried to know My Name ; therefore do you. My good Angels, 
 take charge of hini, and keep him from the evil that walketh in 
 darkness." And you may imagine that charge especially given 
 to that one among the good Spirits, who was set to watch over 
 you at first, on your becoming one of Christ's little ones. And 
 you may thankfully muse on the joy, with which those blessed 
 Spirits set about their loving task, and how it pleases them to 
 cherish in you every good and wholesome thought ; and how the 
 tempter, finding you so well guarded, will depart, gnashing his 
 teeth for disappointment, and leave you to your quiet slumber. 
 
108 CHRIST THE KING OF ANGELS. 
 
 Such is the comfortable hope with -which a penitent, beUeving 
 person may He down in sleep, yea, even in death, ever since 
 Jesus Christ went into Heaven, and the Angels, Authorities and 
 Powers were made subject unto Him. I say, a penitent, believing, 
 obedient person. For all these blessings depend on our keeping 
 our hold of Christ ; and that depends on our sincerely trying 
 to obey Him, in thought, word, and deed. 
 
SERMON CLXXVIIL 
 
 ONE SPIRIT, MANY GIFTS. 
 
 FOR WHIT-MONDAY. 
 
 1 Cor. xii. 11. 
 
 " But all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every 
 man severally as He will." 
 
 On the first Whit-Sunday, that is, about one thousand eight hun- 
 dred years ago, that great wonder of God's mercy began to take 
 place, of which the Apostle in these words, as every where else in 
 his writings, declares the continuance. The twelve Apostles, with 
 the holy and blessed Virgin Mother, and with the other devout 
 women from Galilee, in short, all the followers of our Lord, being 
 " with one accord in one place," in the upper room, no doubt, 
 where they had ever since His Ascension continued to meet in 
 prayer and supplication, " suddenly there came a sound from 
 Heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house 
 where they were sitting ;" it seemed to be on all sides of them 
 at once : " and there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as 
 of fire, and it sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with 
 the Holy Ghost." 
 
 One and the same Spirit filled them all, and all began to speak 
 with other languages ; not all alike, but as the Spirit gave them 
 power to speak. Thus was fulfilled for the first time, to the very 
 eye and ear, that of which the Apostle in the text speaks, as a law 
 of God's kingdom to be continued for ever. There were " diver- 
 sities of gifts, but the same Spirit." It was one fire, but separated 
 
no ONE SPIRIT, MANY GIFTS. 
 
 into many tongues : one sound, as of a rushing mighty wind, 
 but different in tone, when they spake, according to each man's 
 voice. One man spake one language, another another, but it 
 was the same Holt Ghost that put words in the mouths of all. 
 And all spake the same thing, — " the wonderful works of God," 
 — His marvellous mercies by Jesus Christ, His Son, made Man, 
 crucified, risen, and glorified, for the salvation of the world. 
 
 As it was thus in the beginning of the Church, so it continued 
 to be afterwards. The Holy Comforter came down, as Christ 
 had promised, upon one Christian after another, uniting every 
 one to Jesus Christ, and giving every one such gifts as He 
 knew to be best for him : as it is said in a verse a little before 
 the text, " The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man 
 to profit withal." 
 
 But now these best gifts of God, as well as all His other gifts, 
 are in danger of being profaned by men. And it seems that the 
 Corinthians did profane them. They employed the power of 
 speaking new languages, as well as other spiritual gifts, to their 
 own glory, and not to God's glory alone. Those who had 
 the higher and more abundant gifts, were tempted to think 
 lightly of those who had less ; and these again to be discontented 
 and slothful, and think they had no occasion to try their best for 
 God's sake. Just as rich men are in danger of permitting them- 
 selves to look down upon the poor, and poor men to envy the 
 rich. To correct this, St. Paul would have all Christians remem- 
 ber these two things : first, that all Christians are one in Christ ; 
 secondly, that each one has his own work, his own place, his own 
 character. Much in the same way " as the body " of a man " is 
 one, and hath many members :" it is not one member, but many ; 
 " and all those members, being many, are but one body : so also," 
 he saith, " is Christ." His mystical Body, the Church, is like 
 His natural Body, or any of our bodies, in respect that although 
 it is made up of many members, each having its own office, yet 
 it is truly, strictly, mysteriously One. 
 
 What makes it one, and binds it together, is the Holy Spirit 
 of God dwelling in each person's soul and body, to unite him 
 truly to Jksus Christ: just as what unites the hands, feet, and 
 other limbs, into one living and moving body, is the life which 
 was breathed into them bv Almighty God. " Bv one Spirit," 
 
ONE SPIRIT, MANY GIFTS. Ill 
 
 the Apostle tells us, " we are all baptized into one Body, whether 
 we be Jew or Gentile, whether we be bond or free ; and have 
 been all made to drink into one Spirit." 
 
 Thus are Christians put in mind of the one Church, to which 
 all alike belong' ; and they are also put in mind of the diver- 
 sity of gifts, whereby each member is made different from an- 
 other. As in the epistle to the Ephesians, " There is one 
 Body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your 
 calling ;" " but to every one of us is given grace according to the 
 measure of the Gift of Christ." The eye, the ear, the hand, the 
 foot, have their several offices in the body ; so have different 
 Christians in the Church. Each is to be pleased and content 
 with his own, yet without looking down upon any other. Each 
 is to do his own work, without either despising or coveting the 
 other's work. This is what St. Paul goes on to teach at large. 
 
 First, to the weaker and less honourable members he says. 
 You are not to be cast down nor discontented, as if no one cared 
 for you, because others have higher places than you. " If the 
 foot shall say. Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body, 
 is it therefore not of the body ? And if the ear shall say, Because 
 I am not the eve, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the 
 body ?" The meaning of which is. Suppose you are a poor per- 
 son, of little understanding or instruction, and altogether in a low 
 place among Christians ; you will be apt sometimes to say to 
 yourself, " What signifies what the like of me says or does ? Who 
 minds me ? If I were a scholar, and had abundance of leisure to 
 acquaint myself with it all ; if I were a rich person, and had many 
 others depending upon me ; then it would be of more consequence 
 how I went on : but what difference can it make now?" In this 
 way, or something like it, I imagine, people are not seldom 
 tempted to make themselves easy, neglecting divine worship, the 
 Church and the Scriptures, the thought of God and another world, 
 because they are poor and needy, and much taken up with some 
 hard work. This is just what St. Paul describes. For the poor 
 or the ignorant person to give himself up, as though it were use- 
 less for him to try to serve God, is as if the foot should say, 
 " Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body ;" or as if 
 the ear should say, " Because I am not the eye, I am not of the 
 bodv." 
 
112 ONE SPIRIT, MANY GIFTS. 
 
 " Nay," it might be said, " you surely have in you the same life, 
 the same blood, that any other limbs of the body have. The pulse 
 ■which beats in you comes from the heart, the power and will 
 ■which guides you from the head ; you are as much a member of 
 the Man as any of the limbs ■which are most precious. If you hear 
 instead of speaking, if you move instead of ruling, if you act in- 
 stead of ordering, you are not therefore the less parts of the body." 
 
 So, should any weaker Christian, giving way to discontent, 
 become careless about his duty, because he has but a low place 
 in the Church, and imagines himself to be thought little of, 
 the Scripture seems to say to such an one, Know yourself better, 
 think more worthily of God's great mercies towards you. Remem- 
 ber the very first lesson you learned in your Catechism, that you 
 were made in ycur christening a member of Christ, a partaker, 
 by His Spirit, of the heavenly hfe ; do not for a moment believe 
 that He can despise or neglect any of His Members. We feel it 
 all over, if any the smallest portion of our bodies is but for a 
 little while in sharp pain : and can it be that He who came down 
 from Heaven to find and save us when we were lost. He who has 
 joined us to His very heart, — has become Bone of our bone, and 
 Flesh of our flesh, — can it be that He should not feel what hap- 
 pens to any one of His Members ? " Can a woman forget her 
 sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of 
 her womb ? yea, they may forget, yet cannot I forget thee." 
 These are the promises with which Christians should console 
 themselves, ■when they feel low and desolate ; when in their 
 affliction it almost seems to them as if both God and man had 
 forsaken them. 
 
 And much more should we quiet with the same gracious words 
 all discontented and envious thoughts. Are you not a Member 
 of Christ, a child of God, an inheritor of the kingdom of 
 Heaven ? and what is it, in comparison of so great mercies, if 
 another man is more learned, more respected, richer, or healthier 
 than you are ? God hath set us with other members in the 
 body, every one as it pleased Him : enough for our happiness, 
 and infinitely more than we deserve, that we are, any of us, there 
 at all. 
 
 The weak then are not to envy the strong, and the strong on 
 the other hand are not to despise the weak. " The eye is not 
 
ONE SPIRIT, MANY GIFTS. 113 
 
 to say to the hand, I have no need of thee ; neither again the 
 head to the feet, I have no need of you." Those who are above 
 others, either in learning or in dignity, are of course in some 
 danger of becoming proud and contemptuous. Therefore the 
 Gospel so distinctly says to us all, " blessed are they that mourn :" 
 blessed are the poor, blessed are ye when men shall revile 
 you, and persecute you, and cast out your name as evil. Christ 
 says that the Gospel was especially preached to the poor, and 
 that not the wisest and most honoured, but the humblest, shall 
 be great in the kingdom of Heaven. And again, since all Chris- 
 tians make one body, which is Christ, and the Members of the 
 same body feel of course one for another, it never will do for any 
 Christian to deal scornfully with any other Christian. We know 
 that in the natural body, " if one member suffer, all the members 
 suffer with it ; and if one member be honoured, all the members 
 rejoice with it." Violent pain in any one limb hinders the whole 
 body from being at ease : if the foot or the hand be throbbing 
 with anguish, the eye cannot take rest ; and, on the other hand, 
 if the aching eye, or any other member, be relieved, it will give 
 soothing and relief to the whole body in every part. Thus does 
 Almighty God instruct us by our own constant feelings, how 
 near every Christian is to every other Christian : how we should 
 sympathize all in one another's welfare, should rejoice and sorrow 
 with our neighbour, how far soever he may seem beneath us in 
 any respect. Be he who he may, Christ died for him, and as a 
 Christian he is partaker of Christ's Spirit. We cannot say, we 
 have no need of him : we need his prayers as much as he ours. 
 Our Lord and Saviour had need of him, for He came down from 
 Heaven to save him, and gave him His Spirit to make him a 
 child of God ; and if we think we can do without our brother, if 
 we permit ourselves to scorn him, how have we the Mind of 
 Christ ? 
 
 Let this then, Christian brethren, be the lesson settled in our 
 hearts at this great and holy time ; to believe that we are Chris- 
 tian brethren indeed, and to cherish in our hearts true brotherly 
 feeling one towards another. The Coming of God, the Holy 
 Ghost, from Heaven, to dwell in our hearts and bodies, and 
 unite us to Jesus Christ, is so great, so vast an event, that it 
 
114 ONE SPIRIT, MANY GIFTS. 
 
 mav well overwhelm and confound our minds, if we try to think 
 of it all at once, and to feel all we might and ought from it : it is 
 well that we should select some one point of what it teaches, and 
 meditate on it with all our hearts : and let this our subject to-day 
 be, The One Holy Spirit, with His differing gifts, abiding alike 
 in every Member of Christ. 
 
 Consider, what a fearful notion this gives us of our condition. 
 To know that we are in God's sight, that He looks on our heart, 
 is exceedingly awful : to know that He looks on us as persons 
 whom He has called to be His own, whom He bought with His 
 own blood, and for whom, therefore, He cares with especial care, 
 this makes our case still more serious : but to be aware that the 
 Most High and Holy Spirit, by the Covenant of our Baptism, 
 is really abiding within us : that we are, as St. Paul said, the 
 Temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in us : — 
 this, indeed, is awful beyond all awfulness. How can we be idle, 
 thoughtless, negligent of our souls ; how can we deal lightly with 
 any duty ; above all, how can we pollute our souls and bodies with 
 any kind of wilful sin ? we, to whom Christ has said, " I will 
 pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, and 
 He shall abide with you for ever." 
 
 Now, then, with this deep faith in Christ's Holy Spirit, as 
 having really been given to dwell in our hearts, let us think on 
 any other person, whomsoever we will, as being also partakers of 
 the same Spirit. Consider ; if he were partaker of the same 
 blood with us, if it were our brother or sister after the flesh, 
 should we not be full of love for him .'' should we not look on all 
 he did with indulgence, judge him as favourably as we could, pray 
 for a blessing on him heartily, and seek his good always ? How 
 much more, when the very same Spirit, which is our Life, is 
 his Life also ; binding us to him by the same kind of Unity, by 
 which the Son of Gou is one with the Father : for so He Him- 
 self prayed: "That they," that is all Christians, "may be One, 
 as We are." 
 
 Again, because this Spirit deals not with all exactly alike, but 
 divides to every man severally as He will, how should the remem- 
 brance of Him fail to make us content in our places, orderly and 
 diligent in our duties r since wherever wc are in Goo's work, He 
 
ONE SPIRIT, MANY GIFIS. 115 
 
 assigned us our place : whatever we have to do, He set us our 
 task ; if we seem to have to do nothing, but only to suffer, still it 
 was He wIjo laid the burthen upon us. 
 
 Are you then a rich and prosperous person ? do not trust in 
 your own riches : beware of thinking that you can do without the 
 poor, that you need them not. You cannot do without them : you 
 have the greatest need of them : you need their prayers and 
 blessings in return for your alms, to guard you against the deadly 
 snare of setting your heart upon this world, or any thing in it. If 
 your alms obtain you the prayers of the poor, this will, very likely, 
 by God's mercy through Christ, be a means of delivering your 
 soul from death. 
 
 Are you, on the contrary, a poor man ? Then beware how you 
 allow yourself to think sadly on the rich, as being better off than 
 you are. Such thoughts are too likely to end in repining and 
 envy : and therefore we should never use ourselves to meditate 
 much on men's being above us, — on their having more grace, for 
 example, on their being enabled to do greater things for God, — 
 without deeply meditating also on the mysterious ever-present 
 Spirit, by Whom such differences were made. When it comes 
 into your mind, " Hovr far such an one is from the wants and 
 doubts and troubles which annoy me," do not stop there, lest you 
 begin to grudge him his tranquillity ; but go on saying to yourself, 
 " God, Who knows and loves us all better than we do ourselves. 
 He saw fit to make this difference between my brother and myself, 
 in just judgment, perhaps, for my sins ; it is His doing, I dare 
 not dispute or complain of it." 
 
 Again, are you in comparison learned ? are you able to read 
 the Scriptures ? yet do not trust in your reading : do not think 
 that you can make out your duty, and save yourself well enough : 
 you still need the prayers of Christ's afflicted and poor, you still 
 need Communion with His Saints, both living and dead : seek 
 that blessing in all charity. 
 
 Are you, on the other hand, an ignorant person, and does it 
 mortify you to see and feel that you know much less than most 
 others ? care not for it, but turn your thoughts to the infinite 
 and wonderful truth, which, as we all know, belongs to us and to 
 the very wisest alike : turn your thoughts to the Holy Ghost 
 
116 ONE SPIRIT, MANY GIFTS. 
 
 abiding in you : it will be a wonder if you still go on envying 
 and repining. 
 
 Are you so far blameless, as to have kept, by God's mercy, your 
 soul and body from wilful deadly sin ? You know it is altogether 
 the work of God's Spirit: believe and think of this; it will 
 keep you from pride and self-righteousness. 
 
 And last, and most mournful of all, are you a guilty person, 
 your conscience laden with grievous sins, perhaps many sins, after 
 Baptism ? Then, indeed, the thought of the presence of God's 
 Spirit must be precious in your heart, for it tells you of your 
 only hope,— but that, please God, a sure and certain hope- 
 namely, that He, unseen within you, has still the power and will 
 to enable you to repent : and if you truly repent. He is faithful 
 and just to forgive you, for His dear Son's sake. 
 
 God keep us ever one, by His Holy Spirit in our hearts ; 
 and dispose us to be contented where we fall short, and humble 
 with what He gives us ! 
 
SERMON CLXXIX. 
 
 FESTIVAL JOY. 
 
 FOR TUESDAY IN WHITSUN- fVEEK. 
 
 ECCLESIASTES ix. 7, 8. 
 
 " Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink tliy wine with a merry heart; 
 for God now accepteth thy worlis : let thy garments be always white, and 
 let thy head lack no ointment." 
 
 This is one of those passages, so remarkable in the writings of 
 Solomon, in which the words of sinful men in the world are taken 
 up by the Holy Ghost, to be applied in a Christian sense. As 
 they stand in Ecclesiastes, it seems very plain that they are in- 
 tended to represent the sayings and thoughts of sensual, careless 
 people, indulging themselves in their profane ways, their utter 
 neglect of God and goodness, with the notion that this world is 
 all. As if they should say, " When people are dead there is an end 
 of them : therefore all we have to do is to enjoy ourselves as much 
 as possible ; to eat our bread with joy, and drink our wine with a 
 merry heart ; to wear always festival garments, and anoint our- 
 selves with the oil of gladness, while God still ' accepteth our 
 works,' that is, while it is yet well with us, and we are capable of 
 finding delight in life, according to the order of God's Providence." 
 It is much the same as the unbeliever's saying, in St. Paul, " Let 
 us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." 
 
 But see the ever-watchful goodness and mercy of God. The 
 words which the dissolute, wild-hearted sinner uses to encourage 
 himself in his evil inconsiderate ways, Hii teaches us to take up, 
 
 VOL. VI. K 
 
213 FESTIVAL JOV. 
 
 and use them in a very different sense ; to express the imvard 
 joy and comfort which God's people may find in obeying Him. 
 As thus : suppose a person giving himself up, with his whole 
 heart, to the service and obedience of God ; suppose him really 
 withdrawing himself from the sins which had most easily beset 
 him ; suppose him making some great sacrifice, parting with what 
 he held very dear, or submitting to pain or grief for Christ's 
 sake : then the Holy and merciful Comforter seems to say to him 
 in the words of the text, " Go thy way now, thank God, and take 
 courage ; the blessing of God is now restored to thee, and will be 
 upon all thou hast, and upon thine ordinary employments and re- 
 freshments : now thou mayest eat thy bread with joy, and drink 
 thy wine with a merry heart, for God now accepteth thy works." 
 For, " whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do," if we "do 
 all to the glory of God," we shall do it with His blessing and ap- 
 probation : it will be so much more of happiness, joy, and thanks- 
 giving to us. 
 
 Thus we may understand the words to teach the same lesson as 
 the Apostle, when he says, " Rejoice in the Lord always, and 
 again, I say, rejoice." They are God's gracious word of permis- 
 sion to those who fear Him, encouraging them to enjoy, with 
 innocence, moderation, and thankfulness, the daily comforts and 
 reliefs, with which He so plentifully supplies them, even in this 
 imperfect world. They bring the same assurance from God as 
 St. Paul gives to Timothy: " Every creature of God is good, and 
 nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving." 
 
 Let us only think for one moment, what a heavenly light it 
 would throw over our ordinary works and refreshments, if, being 
 always careful to set about them with a good conscience, we could 
 seriously bring it home to ourselves, that they are so many tokens 
 of heavenly and eternal love ; so many reasonable grounds of 
 hope, that God really accepteth our works. 
 
 But there is yet a higher, a Christian sense of these words, a 
 sense in which they were taken of old by the holy Fathers of the 
 Christian Church. The bread and wine, the white garments, 
 the ointment for the head, are, according to this interpretation, 
 figures and types of our Christian privileges, the blessings and 
 favours of the kingdom of Heaven. It is, then, as if the Holy 
 Word had said to us, being, as we are, Christian men, Members 
 
FESTIVAL JOY. 119 
 
 of the mystical Body of our Lord and Saviour, " Now you have 
 been brought into the communion of Saints ; now God has set 
 His seal ujjon you; now," to speak the Apostle's words, " you 
 are washed, sanctified, justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, 
 and by the Spirit of our God. Go your way, then ; use your 
 privileges with all reverence, joy, and fear. Draw near as often 
 as you can, to the holy feast of that Bread and Wine, which, to 
 those who take it with penitent and obedient hearts, is the very 
 Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ. Awful as such an in- 
 vitation is, you may yet draw near with holy cheerfulness, having 
 God's seal and mark upon your forehead, and the earnest of His 
 Spirit in your hearts." 
 
 And it would seem that if Christians were at all such as they 
 ought to be, the words might be well and profitably understood 
 with a particular reference to this sacred season of Whitsuntide. 
 
 For at this time, as you know, the blessed Comforter came 
 down, to set up the kingdom of Christ on earth ; to dwell in 
 men's hearts so as to unite them to Christ ; by which union alone 
 they can be partakers of the great things which the Gospel pro- 
 mises. This time then is the last of the holy seasons ;• it repre- 
 sents to us the full completion of God's unspeakable plan for the 
 salvation of the world. 
 
 Supposing, then, any humble, faithful Christian to have rightly 
 kept the former holy seasons : to have " worshipped and served 
 Christ, for His conception, in faith ; for His birth, in humility ; 
 for His suflferings, in patience and irreconcileable hatred of sin ; 
 for His death, by dying daily to sin; for His resurrection, by 
 rising again more and more unto righteousness ; for His ascen- 
 sion, by a heavenly mind:" may we not, without presumption, 
 imagine him to hear the voice of his approving conscience, the 
 certain yet silent whispers of the Holy Comforter in his heart, 
 " Go thy way now, receive the fulness of the blessing of these 
 sacred days, which thou hast so dutifully tried to observe. Let 
 the light and warmth of Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide 
 spread itself in a measure over the rest of thy year. Whatsoever 
 God putteth in thine hand to do, in the way of holy devotion and 
 true Church communion, do it with all thy might, in the humble 
 hope that God now accepteth thy works." 
 
 Such is the kind of comfort, which the Sacred Scriptures cncou- 
 
 K 2 
 
120 FESTIVAL JOY. 
 
 ra^-e us, as Christians, to take to ourselves, at every new return 
 of these great days, bringing home to us things which are the 
 very foundation of our hope. It is a comfort which would be to 
 us far more perfect than it is, and far plainer to be understood, if 
 we were less unworthy of our privileges; if we had not too gene- 
 rally fallen from the righteousness of Jesus Christ, given to us 
 at our baptism. But even as it is, the words have a sound most 
 comfortable to penitents, as well as to those who, by God's help, 
 have kept themselves from wilful, deadly sin. They sound like 
 words of absolution : " Go thy way, return again to that holy Table, 
 from which thy transgressions had for a time separated thee : eat 
 thy Bread, and drink thy Wine with a courageous and hopeful 
 heart: for now there is hope that God accepteth thy works ; that He 
 hears thee, since thou hast left off inclining unto wickedness with 
 thine heart. Thy case indeed is alarming, from the continual 
 danger of a relapse ; and thy loss at best is great, penitency 
 instead of innocency being thy portion ; yet go on steadily and 
 cheerfully." 
 
 Thus, whether to souls that have as yet preserved the purity of 
 their baptismal robe, or to humble penitent souls, desirous of re- 
 covering it, there are in Holy Scripture, if we had ears to hear 
 them, most condescending invitations as well as warnings. 
 Christ, in His Sacraments, is held out to them as their only but 
 sufficient hope. 
 
 Observe, however, the words which follow, which to the hearing 
 of a thoughtful Christian convey a very serious admonition, telling 
 us on what these unspeakable privileges depend, so far as our 
 own conduct is concerned: " Let thy garments be -always white, 
 and let thine head lack no ointment." This also would be felt by 
 the Christians of ancient times, as particularly suitable to the holy 
 season of Whitsuntide. For that, as you know, was one of the 
 solemn times of baptizing, and the new baptized were always 
 clothed in white, as a token of the " fine linen, pure and white, the 
 righteousness of Saints," and of Jesus Christ ; the wedding gar- 
 ment, which God had just put on them by making them Members 
 of His Son. To say, therefore, to Christians at Whitsuntide, 
 " Let thy garments be always white," was the same as saying. 
 " Take care that at no time you stain or sully the bright and clear 
 robe of your Saviour's righteousness, which has just been thrown 
 
FESTIVAL JOY. 121 
 
 over you : according to the Apostle's saying, ' As many as have 
 been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.' As much as 
 possible keep it clear from all spot of wilful sin ; and if you have 
 unhappily fallen, give yourself no rest, until by your true and deep 
 repentance, all your life long, you have put the matter entirely in 
 your Saviour's hand, to wash out even that wilful stain, if so it 
 please Him, by his most precious blood," 
 
 Again, says the wise man, " Let thine head lack no ointment : " 
 and this again is an allusion which would come with a particular 
 meaning in early times to the new-baptized Christians, and those 
 who had been present at their baptism. For both in that Sacra- 
 ment, and in Confirmation, which comes next after it, they used 
 in those days to anoint with holy oil. And oil is in Scripture the 
 constant token of the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit. 
 Therefore, to say, " Let thy head lack no ointment," would mean, 
 " Take care that thou stir up, cherish, and improve the unspeak- 
 able Gift of which thou art now made partaker. Use diligently 
 all the means of grace which Christ has provided for thee in His 
 Kingdom, whereof thou art now come to be an inheritor." 
 
 Think not, that because we have received so great a blessing 
 freely and fully, without any merit, without any exertion of 
 our own, therefore we have but to go on quietly, taking no 
 particular pains, and all will come right at last. Nay, the very 
 greatness of the blessing is a call upon us to labour night and 
 day, that we lose not, after all, the fruit of such exceeding mercy. 
 It provokes the envy and spite of the Evil One, to take all the 
 advantage he can of us : let it, therefore, encourage us to be 
 more and more devout and watchful. What a shame for us to be 
 negligent in prayer, who know that we have Christ's Spirit 
 abiding in us, to help our infirmities, and pray for us and with us ! 
 "What sin, what danger, what ruin, for us to be violently carried 
 awav with any worldly thing whatever, who know that " greater 
 is He that is in us than he that is in the world !" 
 
 If we earnestly endeavour, and pray in Christ's name, to have 
 such thoughts as these, when we are reminded of our baptismal 
 privileges, we may hope that the care of the Church in appointing 
 these holy seasons will not be thrown away upon us : we may 
 hope next year to accompany her in her mysterious round of holy 
 feasts and fasts, from Advent to Trinity Sunday, with more 
 
122 FESTIVAL JOY. 
 
 dutiful and prepared hearts than we have done this year. But let 
 us, above all things, beware of growing faint and cold, and 
 treating these sacred things as matters of course. Let us re- 
 member that " we have opened our mouth unto the Loud," and 
 we must not, we dare not, " go back :" but we shall undoubtedly 
 go back, if we are not always labouring to go forward. 
 
SERMON CLXXX. 
 
 APOSTOLIC GENEROSITY IN ENCOURAGING GOODNESS. 
 
 FOR THE FEAST OF ST. BARNABAS. 
 
 Acts xi. 22, 23. 
 
 " They sent forth Barnabas, that he sliould go as far as Antioch : who, when 
 he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them 
 all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord." 
 
 The character in which St. Barnabas is here presented to us, is 
 that of a person greatly rejoicing in other men's goodness. He 
 was glad when he saw the grace of God in his brethren. Of his 
 doing so, there are several other instances ; indeed, almost the 
 whole of his conduct towards St. Paul is fall, from the besrinnine, 
 of such generous and affectionate joy. 
 
 He, you may observe, was the first person at Jerusalem, who 
 was able to convince himself of St. Paul's being truly converted. 
 When that great Apostle came to Jerusalem, where he was known 
 before only as a persecutor of the Name of Christ, "he assayed 
 to join himself to the Disciples, but they were all afraid of him, 
 and believed not that he was a Disciple. But Barnabas took him, 
 and brought him to the Apostles, and declared unto them how he 
 had seen the Lord in the way." 
 
 Alcnost ever afterwards, he continued the affectionate com- 
 panion and friend of St. Paul. Presently after the visit to Antioch, 
 in the text, we find him departing to Tarsus to seek Saul, and 
 when he had found him, bringing him to Antioch. No doubt he 
 was well aware that St. Paul was, humanly speaking, a much 
 
124 APOSTOLIC GENEROSITY 
 
 ffreater and more noticeable person than himself; that by seeking 
 him, and bringing him forward, he was as it were throwing him- 
 self into the back-ground : according to what is said afterwards, 
 that wherever thev went, Paul was " the chief speaker." But this 
 made no difference to his affection for St. Paul, or his wish to have 
 him with him. He rejoiced to see the grace of God, even when 
 its light shone so brightly in others, as quite to eclipse and drown 
 his own light. 
 
 All this is the more to be observed, because this feeling in the 
 Apostle of Consolation is especially attributed bythe Holy Scripture 
 to the sanctifying Spirit of God. " He was glad when he saw the 
 grace of God, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they 
 would cleave unto the Lord : For he was a good man, and full of 
 the Holy Ghost and of Faith." So that the charity which en- 
 vieth not the spiritual attainments of others, is an especial token 
 "of the Holy Ghost and of Faith." 
 
 And it is worth observing, that by God's providence, and the 
 Church's order, this festival of St. Barnabas, in every year, comes 
 actually first of the Saints' days after Whit-Sunday, or however 
 nearest to that blessed day. As though this charitable, unenvious 
 mind, of which St. Barnabas was a pattern, were a grace which 
 the Holy Comforter especially delighted to honour, and by 
 which he would have those especially try themselves, who wish to 
 know if they are themselves walking by the Spirit, and not de- 
 ceiving their own hearts. 
 
 But concerning this disposition to rejoice in other men's good- 
 ness, it is much easier to see how amiable it looks in others, than 
 to practise it one's self in good earnest. Do not men envy others, 
 not merely for their outward advantages, but for their goodness 
 itself: especially for those parts of goodness which they them- 
 selves have not the heart to imitate ? It is an ancient story, told 
 of a virtuous heathen, that when a loud outcry was once raised 
 against him, and he was to be banished from his country, a person 
 of whom he asked a reason why he gave his vote against him, re- 
 plied, " I have no objection to you, but I am quite tired of hearing 
 every one call you the Just." Something of the kind, I fear, 
 takes place not seldom, even within the very kingdom of Charity, 
 the Church of our Lord and of His Spirit. Men wilfully im- 
 perfect themselves, are disquieted and grieved at having the good- 
 
IN ENCOURAGING GOODNESS. 125 
 
 ness of others brought continually before their eyes. It is a 
 silent standing reproach to them. 
 
 For example, those who are determined wantonly to neglect 
 the holy duty of mortifying the flesh, cannot bear to see others 
 strict ; they are always inclined to seduce them from their rules 
 of self-denial, or otherwise to interrupt them; and if they cannot 
 do so, they generally get out of their sight. Persons of a sour 
 and morose temper are apt to be very greatly provoked by the 
 good humour and sweetness of those of a better mind. The 
 careless about truth, the detracting and slanderous tongue, is 
 not seldom the more restless, for observing that the hearer is 
 scrupulous, and afraid to join in any such conversation ; he wants 
 his neighbour, if not to partake of his sin, at least not to keep at 
 such a very great distance from the same. And so throughout 
 life, there is a disposition in the unrenewed heart, to grudge all 
 those graces which go too far beyond itself; a disposition the 
 very opposite to that, which the Holy Ghost wrought in St. 
 Barnabas by faith. He rejoiced, but these are sorry, on beholding 
 the grace of God. 
 
 It certainly must require no small faith to believe, that it is 
 better on the whole for others to do the good which you desire, 
 than for it to be done by yourself. St. Barnabas must have his 
 heart steadily fixed on the unseen rewards prepared on high, to 
 make him acquiesce thus joyfully in his companion, St. Paul, re- 
 ceiving so much more of the encouragement provided for aposto- 
 lical men in this life. Such a mind could hardly be, without deep 
 devotion and forgetfulness of self: such as one may see in St. 
 John Baptist, in his way of speaking of our Blessed Lokd, con- 
 cerning whom it was a matter of joy to him, to say and think, 
 " He must increase, but I must decrease :" such, again, as in the Old 
 Testament, we read of in the beautiful history of Jonathan, and 
 the way in which he so gladly yielded the first place in every 
 thing to David. Such self-denial, when regularly kept up, and 
 not only indulged now and then, out of laziness or partial afi'ec- 
 tion, is one of the clearest tokens that God's Holy Spirit is with 
 men, preparing them for eternal glory. 
 
 And it is seen in nothing so much, as in making persons continu- 
 ally watchful, to cherish and confirm one another in every good pur- 
 pose of heart ; in which respect the Spirit of the Gospel is most di- 
 
1'26 APOSTOLIC GENEROSITY 
 
 rectly opposed to the evil and selfish spirit of this age. For I know 
 not how it is, but people, under pretence of liberty of one sort or 
 another, are come to be, very generally, quite indifferent about 
 the grace and salvation of others. They say, " it is a matter be- 
 tween God and each man's conscience ; it is no concern of theirs, 
 they cannot be accountable for other men." But surely words 
 like these, especially when uttered in scornful tones, are too like 
 the cruel and profane talk of the first murderer, Cain ; who, when 
 God enquired of him concerning his brother Abel, rudely an- 
 swered, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Surely the hard, indif- 
 ferent way in which too many of us treat the thought of our 
 neighbour's condition towards God, is sadly like Cain's way : 
 sadly like the temper which led to a brother's murder. 
 
 The Christian, Catholic, renewed heart is altogether different 
 from this ; it is not at all satisfied, as men of the world are, with 
 persons going on decently and quietly ; it wants them to be in- 
 wardly sound and pure ; first of all to have a good '• purpose of 
 heart," and then to persevere in that purpose, " cleaving" to our 
 Lord and Saviour continually. That anxiety about your neigh- 
 bour's soul, which Christian love causes you to feel, will be a con- 
 tinual, a watchful, a self-denying, but, for the most part, a 
 silent principle. It will show itself in deeds rather than in words, 
 in timely prevention of mischief, rather than in late and loud 
 remonstrance. It will not be very sanguine, nor reckon too much 
 on any good which appears to be done, knowing that we are all 
 by nature unstable as water. Nor yet will it be too soon dis- 
 heartened or disconcerted, knowing that there is hope even of the 
 worst, and that constant efforts and prayers, with the Church of 
 God to your aid, will, by the aid of His good Spirit, prevail 
 against every thing but hardened obstinacy. 
 
 Above all, this care of other's good purposes, to be at all like 
 that of St. Barnabas, must be accompanied with scrupulously 
 good example ; even as it is here said of this holy Apostle, very 
 emphatically, that " he was a good man." 
 
 And it will ever keep in view the growth of the Church and 
 kingdom of Jksus Christ, as being the one thing for which it 
 works ; and our Loud and Saviour Himself, as being the one 
 Master whom it serves. It works not for a sect or party, but 
 for the holy Apostolical Church herself: as St. Barnabas, not re- 
 
IN ENCOURAGING GOODNESS. 127 
 
 garding his own or any other Apostle's name, laboured only to 
 have " much people added unto the Lord." 
 
 Consequently, such a labourer will never be ashamed to seek 
 out help, when he finds the work getting beyond him, or knows 
 that another will do it better : so St. Barnabas, as was before 
 observed, " departed to Tarsus to seek Saul," and brought him to 
 Antioch ; and thus doing, he was instrumental in providing all 
 the Churches of the Gentiles with the chiefest of all their 
 teachers. 
 
 All this refers, of course, more immediately to the office and 
 calling of Pastors in the Church of Christ. But every one of us 
 has a part in it, in such measure as we are at any time witnesses 
 of each other's good resolutions, and have the power, by God's 
 good Providence, of doing any thing towards confirming our 
 brethren. For example, as often as we offer ourselves to God in 
 the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, so often we see the 
 grace of God, bringing many persons, as we trust, with holy pur- 
 poses, to draw near their Lord and Saviour, in the way He 
 Himself ordained. It becomes us surely not only to be glad, but 
 to watch and pray afterwards one for another ; and if need and 
 occasion be, to " exhort one another," that " with purpose of 
 heart " all may " cleave to the Lord " Jesus ; all may keep their 
 holy vows, then and there renewed to Him and to His Church. 
 The Holy Communion received together, is a very special bond 
 between Christians, making it their duty to pray each for his 
 brother, and the duty of those, who are any how in authority, to 
 " reprove, rebuke, exhort " without fear : those, I say, who are 
 in authority ; for otherwise the office of censurer and reprover is 
 too grave, for any person to presume to take it lightly on 
 himself. 
 
 Finally, the good advice of St. Barnabas, here given to the 
 people of Antioch, may well serve as a kind of watchword for all 
 Christians of every station, in times when the Faith and the 
 Church are being violently assailed by their enemies. Then is 
 the time to practise a holy obstinacy ;' not to mind if you be not 
 able to give reasons, and talk knowingly about things, but " with 
 purpose of heart to cleave to the Lord ;" that is, to abide by 
 what the Church has taught you, let people say what tliey 
 will. 
 
128 APOSTOLIC GENEROSITY IN ENCOURAGING GOODNESS. 
 
 This will be called bigotry and stubbornness : and they who 
 are wise in their own conceit will insist on your giving a reason 
 for every thing. Well, then, let your reason be given, not in 
 words, but in a holy life. Humbly and meekly, but with all 
 Christian boldness, let us strive to obey the Bible, the Church, and 
 the Praver-Book ; and so to put the enemies of truth to shame ; 
 and, by the whole course of our lives, to exhort those who are 
 partakers with us of the Gospel, that " with purpose of heart they 
 cleave unto the Lord " for ever. 
 
SERMON CLXXXI. 
 
 SELF-DENYING LOYALTY TO CHRIST. 
 
 FOR ST. JOHN BAPTIST S DAY. 
 
 St. John iii. 30. 
 " He must increase, but I must decrease." 
 
 No doubt, St. John the Baptist is in a particular sense an example 
 for the Clergy, more than for other Christians, As he was sent 
 to prepare the way for our Lord's first coming, so they are sent to 
 prepare the way for His second. They, as he, are to go before 
 Christ, in the spirit and power of Elias, to make ready a people 
 prepared for Him. 
 
 Many parts, therefore, of his character and conduct, are a direct 
 pattern for those only, who were sent as he was ; they do not so 
 immediately concern others, who have no such trust. 
 
 As, for example, his " boldly rebuking vice," which is mentioned 
 in the Collect for the day as one remarkable part of his character, 
 and which he practised both towards the Scribes and Phari- 
 sees, when he called them a generation of vipers ; and in warning 
 Herod of the consequences, if he took his brother's wife to be his 
 own. In this St. John was a pattern, first and chiefly, for the 
 Ministers of Christ : for it is they who have a direct commission 
 from Him to call people to account for their sins, and to judge 
 them, for a while, in His stead. But he is also a pattern for all 
 who are in any way trusted with the government of others, as 
 kings, masters, elders, friends who can advise. Those whose 
 station calls on them to do good by reproving, must try to do it 
 
139 SELF-DENYING LOYALTY TO CHRIST. 
 
 as St. John did, faithfully, discreetly, and boldly : still, as I said, 
 it is the calling of Christ's Ministers especially. And the same 
 raav be said of all other parts of the Baptist's example. He set 
 a copy in the first place for Priests. But in that sense in which 
 all Christians are Priests, appointed to offer up themselves, their 
 souls and bodies, for a living sacrifice to God Almighty, and to 
 prepare, each in his station, the way of Christ : in that sense 
 the Baptist's example was meant for all, and ought to be followed 
 by all. Observe how he in his calling made ready His Saviour's 
 way, and let us in our several callings endeavour to make ready 
 our Judge's way. 
 
 And above all, let us try to enter into the spirit of that deep 
 and affectionate loyalty, if I may call it so, to our Lord, which is 
 every where to be seen in the holy Baptist's character. I mean 
 his not thinking of himself, but of his Master ; giving up every 
 thing to His glory ; rejoicing, as he went on, to find that Jesus 
 Christ every day was showing Himself more and more glorious 
 above him, and throwing him quite, as people sav, into the shade. 
 This is the feeling which St. John expresses in the text, on com- 
 plaint having been made to him by some of his own disciples, 
 " Rabbi, He that was with thee beyond Jordan, to Whom thou 
 barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come 
 unto Him." They said it in the way of complaint, thinking it 
 hard that their master should be surpassed, and thought less of, in 
 consequence of the rising of this new Prophet, of "Whom as vet 
 they knew hardly any thing. Upon this, Christ's faithful servant 
 and forerunner took occasion to utter, in express words, that 
 which in reality all his ministry had been bearing witness of, that 
 he had no power, no glory, no holiness of his own ; he was but a 
 servant, ministering, for a time, to One Who was unspeakably, 
 immeasurably greater than himself. " A man," a mere man such 
 as I am, he tells them, "can receive nothing, except it be given 
 him from above." I am such an one, and I must not go beyond 
 my commission. " Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said I 
 am not the Christ, but am sent before Him." He takes up his 
 disciples' word which they had just used, saying, " He to Whom 
 thou barest witness." And he says, " If I bare witness to Him 
 then, do not cxiicct me to contradict that witness now. On the 
 contrary, I tell you, that in the great work of God, which is 
 
SELF-DENYING LOYALTY TO CHHIST. 131 
 
 about to begin, the setting up of the kingdom of Heaven, there 
 is the same kind of difFerence between Him and me, as in a 
 marriage between the bridegroom and the bridegroom's friend : 
 *' He that hath the bride is the bridegroom ; but the friend of the 
 bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly 
 because of the bridegroom's voice : this my joy, therefore, is 
 fulfilled." " Every day," St. John seems to tell them, " I have 
 more and more of the same kind of satisfaction, which a true 
 disinterested friend of any man has in his friend's happy marriage. 
 Every day I rejoice more and more in feeling that I am nothing, 
 and that He is all ; that He must increase, but T must decrease." 
 
 This is what I mean by St. John's loyal feeling ; His deep and 
 constant devotion of himself to our Lord ; the deeper and more 
 constant, as he had, in the eye of the world and the flesh, to lose 
 something by our Lord's being honoured. His " burning and 
 shining light" was to be, in comparison, put out and to disap- 
 pear, like a star, or rather like a lamp, when the sun arises. And 
 he is glad and thankful to have it so : like Jonathan, who truly 
 rejoiced in seeing David by degrees mounting up to the kingdom, 
 which, according to earthly ways of thinking, Jonathan might 
 have looked for himself. 
 
 This loyal and self-devoted feeling, St. John here expresses in 
 words ; but his whole life and conduct before had expressed it, to 
 a considerate mind, quite as clearly. Even before His birth, it 
 was provided that he should give signification of such a devout 
 mind. When Elizabeth, being with child of him, was visited bv 
 the Blessed Virgin, just after the Conception of our Lord, this 
 great miracle happened ; that " as soon as the voice of Mary's 
 salutation sounded in Elizabeth's ears, the babe leaped in her 
 womb for joy." This token he gave of the Holy Ghost, with 
 which he was filled, even from his mother's womb, that even then, 
 before his birth, he did homage, and showed forth devotion to our 
 Saviour. It was a type and ensample of what he should be, what 
 all faithful Christians should be, as long as they live in the world : 
 they should sacrifice and devote themselves entirely to the glory 
 and honour of Him who came to die for them. 
 
 Accordingly, when St. John's time came to preach and to bap- 
 tize, all his doctrine ran upon this ; that neither his preaching 
 nor his baptism was any thing at all in itself, but only to prepare 
 
132 SELF-DENYING LOYALTY TO CHRIST. 
 
 the way for the perfect Gospel, the Spiritual Baptism, which Jesus 
 Christ should set up afterwards. " The Kingdom of Heaven is 
 at hand :" it is not come, it is only near. " I am not the Christ, 
 but am sent before Him." " I baptize you with water, but He 
 shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost." He is " mightier than 
 I." " His shoes' latchet I am not worthy to stoop down and 
 unloose." " He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and 
 with fire." 
 
 It may seem again suitable to this dutiful temper of mind, that 
 St. John, when the people asked him what they should do, re- 
 ferred them always to the plainest and simplest duties, the very 
 thing, as it were, which came next in each man's way ; saying to 
 the common sort, " He that hath two coats, let him impart to 
 him that hath none ; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise." 
 Again, to the publicans, " Exact no more than that which is ap- 
 pointed you ;" and to the soldiers, " Do violence to no man." In 
 every instance, the advice which he gives was as plain and simple 
 as could be, not at all leading them to think of him, nor of any 
 particular wisdom or goodness that was in him, but only to glorify 
 God in their stations by sincere obedience. 
 
 So again, the Baptist never shrank from showing people the 
 severe side of the truth. " The wrath to come." " the unquench- 
 able fire," " the axe laid to the root of the trees :" — these are the 
 things of which he continually kept putting people in mind : 
 but these are not the subjects on which he would have delighted 
 to dwell, had he desired to please and attract his hearers, or to 
 obtain personal influence and authority with them. 
 
 But in this respect, as in all others, the Forerunner of Christ 
 was like His Apostles after Him : he preached not himself, but 
 Christ Jesus the Lord. 
 
 One who was so minded would of course be greatly astonished, 
 not to say shocked, at our Lord's coming to be baptized of him ; 
 and we know how St. John shrank from it. "I have need to be 
 baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me .''" It would seem to 
 him quite a turning of things upside down : knowing, as he had 
 done from the beginning, that Christ was to increase, and he to 
 decrease. He might not indeed yet positively know, that this 
 was the Son of God ; yet he might know enough to make him, in 
 some measure, douljt and muse. Who and how great He might 
 
SKLF-DENYING LOYALTY TO CHRIST. 133 
 
 prove. And this being so, he could not endure the thought of 
 putting himself at all before Him. 
 
 Then, after our Lord had been baptized, and the holy Baptist 
 knew for certain, that "this is He which baptizeth with the Holt 
 Ghost," see how he rejoiced on every occasion to make Him 
 known, to spread His glory, to cause all men, and especially his 
 own disciples, to come near and believe in Christ. Another per- 
 son, though he might for duty's sake send men away from himself 
 to our Lord, might yet perhaps feel more or less troubled at doing 
 so ; it might be an act of self-denial to him ; but St. John's be- 
 haviour every where shows that it was the very joy of his heart to 
 do so, the very purpose for which he lived, the object which he 
 had always in view. Therefore he loses no time, but the very 
 next day he makes haste to show our Lord to his disciples, with 
 that mysterious saying, " Behold the Lamb of God :" words 
 which, to the world's end, will bring with them the remembrance 
 of this great Saint to all well-instructed Christians, and will en- 
 courage them, forgetting their own ease and glory, to press on, 
 and do their very best by example first, and then in other ways, 
 to honour Christ crucified, and make Him better known to their 
 brethren. 
 
 Finally, in the last of his trials, his imprisonment through the 
 malice of Herodias, we find him still of the same mind, still careful 
 to turn all, as well as he could, to the preparing of Christ's way ; 
 still anxious to put himself down, and to exalt his Master and 
 Saviour. For this purpose, having " heard in the prison the 
 works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples" with the question, 
 " Art Thou He that should come, or look we for another ?" He 
 could not be ignorant Who Jesus was, after what he had seen at 
 His Baptism : but no doubt his intention was, to show his dis- 
 ciples the truth concerning Him. Thus he died, as he had lived, 
 pointing out Jesus to men. 
 
 Now there is one point in particular which we may well learn 
 this day, from considering St. John Baptist's character ; namely, 
 that in such measure as we are duly preparing to meet Christ, 
 when He comes to be our Judge, in the same measure we shall be 
 stiU practising to humble ourselves more and more ; — to think less 
 of what we do or have done, and more of Him and His great un- 
 speakable mercies. We shall no longer anxiously and grudgingly 
 
 VOL. VI. L 
 
134 SELF-DENYING LOYALTY TO CHRIST. 
 
 count the moments, the minutes, the hours, which we spend on 
 serving Christ in His Church, but every httle time we can win 
 for that holy employment, away from the world, we shall reckon 
 it clear gain. The more we can give, the more yet shall we con- 
 trive to spare : every step in any kind of Holiness will be to us 
 like a step upwards in a high mountain, revealing to our sight 
 fresh blessings and fresh duties, beyond what we had ever dreamed 
 of, until the last and most blessed step of all shall land us in the 
 Paradise of God ; there, with the blessed Baptist, and all the 
 Saints, to await the full revelation of that kingdom, for which, 
 \)y God's help, we shall have truly tried to prepare ourselves. 
 
SERMON CLXXXII. 
 
 CHARITY QUICKENED BY REPENTANCE. 
 
 FOR. ST. PETERS D.iY. 
 
 St. Luke xxii. 32. 
 
 " I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, 
 strengthen thy brethren." 
 
 All readefsof the holy Gospel must have observed Christ's very 
 particular concern for St. Peter. He was manifestly favoured, in 
 some sense, more than the rest of the Twelve. St. John, indeed, 
 is called the Disciple whom Jesus loved, and he was admitted to 
 lie in His breast at supper. But St. Peter is always mentioned 
 as first in dignity over the glorious company of Apostles. In our 
 Lord's lifetime he is always named first, both of the whole Twelve, 
 and of the Three who were chosen to be with Him on special 
 occasions ; and he is several times put forward to speak for the 
 rest, in a manner which shows that they all in some way looked 
 up to him. Likewise, after our Lorij's death, whenever the 
 Apostles were met together, except it were on that one occasion at 
 Jerusalem, when St. James presided as Bishop of the place, the 
 first room was given to St. Peter. It seems his place to stand up 
 and propose matters for the rest to consider ; or again, to speak 
 in the name of the rest when any thing was to be said for them 
 all to the Jews, to their rulers, or to particular persons ; for in- 
 stance, to Ananias and Sapphira. 
 
 But there are two occasions before our Lord's death, on which 
 He seems more particularly to have shown His great love for 
 this favoured Apostle, and to speak of him in a way which would 
 
 L 2 
 
136 CMAKITY QUICKENED BY KEPENTANCE. 
 
 cause all who desire to enter into the mind of Christ, to think very 
 much of St. Peter. One was, when upon St. Peter's solemnly 
 owning Him Son of God, He said to him, " Thou art a Rock, and 
 on this Rock," that is, " on thee, joined to Me by this faith, I will 
 build My Church : and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against 
 it." This seems to show, that on St. Peter, as first of the Apostles 
 and Prophets of the New Testament, a great deal would depend ; 
 the Church was in some way to be builded upon him : and it seems 
 also to show, that the Evil One might be expected to make some 
 great effort to overturn St. Peter, and shake his faith : against 
 which fearful time our Lord gives the most comfortable assurance, 
 that the gates of Hell can never, in the end, prevail against His 
 Church. Let Peter, and with him the body of Bishops and 
 Pastors, of whom he is in some sense chief, — let them continue, 
 as they will continue, in the true faith of Christ the Son 
 of God, and the powers of darkness shall never get the better of 
 the kingdom of Heaven. It may, in some respects, degenerate 
 and decay : but it will not be overthrown, for it is founded upon 
 a rock. 
 
 The other time, when our Lord's care and love of St. Peter was 
 especially shown before His death, was on the very night of His 
 Agony : when, as He Himself told his Apostles, " Satan desired 
 to have them, that he might sift them as wheat." The Evil One 
 knew how much depended on the Apostles, and on St. Peter in 
 particular; he knew it by the remarkable promise which we have 
 just been considering : and therefore, as in the case of Job, so 
 also in their case, he sought to have power given him against 
 them for a time, to see if he could by any means make them ftdl 
 away from Christ. This is what our Lord calls " sifting them as 
 wheat," — trying them, if he could by any means find out which of 
 them were good corn and which were chaff. This, Satan was 
 about to do by the afflictions which came upon our Lord, and He, 
 knowing their weakness, prepares them for it. He prepares St. 
 Peter in particular, by telling him that He had prayed for him in 
 particular. What could be a greater token of the merciful love 
 and care of our heavenly Advocate, than such an earnest 
 and special intercession ? One reason of it might be, the 
 high place among His Apostles which Hk intended St. Peter 
 should hold : another. His knowing that the great Apostle's zeal 
 
CHAUITY QUICKENED BY REPENTANCE. 137 
 
 and affection would before long lead him into danger beyond 
 the others. Our Lord foresaw, that when they all forsook Him 
 and fled, St. Peter, with St. John, would speedily turn back, 
 and follow Him into the High Priest's palace, which would put 
 him into great danger : as we know it did, for he denied three 
 times that he had any thing to do with our JjOrd. Christ there- 
 fore, in His great mercy, prayed beforehand for St. Peter, that 
 whatever words of unbelief he might utter in the hurry of that 
 night's alarm, yet his faith might not fail : and we know it did 
 not fail : for the moment our Saviour turned and looked upon 
 him, he repented from the bottom of his heart, and went out, and 
 wept bitterly. And Christ, soon after His Resurrection, in token 
 of His entire forgiveness, promised him the honour of suffering 
 for His sake, and committed to him three times over and over the 
 especial care of the lambs and sheep of His flock. 
 
 And as the very thing which led him into temptation was his 
 too daring, but earnest and loyal affection for our Lord, so, after 
 he had recovered, he made good those other words of his Master : 
 " when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." His 
 thankfulness for his own narrow escape was to be shown by his 
 charitable care to strengthen in every way the hands of his fellow 
 disciples, and make them hold fast by the Rock on which he him- 
 self leaned. Thus, in the Acts of the Apostles, he strengthens 
 them ; first, by proposing to elect another in Judas's place ; next, 
 by declaring to the whole multitude the meaning of the descent 
 of the Holy Ghost, and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ: 
 whereby he laid the foundation of the Church, which thenceforth 
 began to be built up upon him and the other Apostles. Then he 
 strengthened all their hands by the great miracles which God 
 gave him power to do ; healing the lame man at the gate of the 
 temple, and striking down Ananias and Sapphira with a word ; 
 nay, and even by his very shadow (for so we are given to under- 
 stand) healing the sick as he passed by. Afterwards he goes 
 down to Samaria, on purpose to confirm or strengthen the new- 
 baptized there : which is the first mention of Confirmation in the 
 history of the Church. And then what strength and courage did 
 our Saviour add to the whole Church by St. Peter, in that He 
 called him by an holy Angel to be first to preach the Gospel to 
 the Gentiles, and to baptize Cornelius and his household : as also 
 
138 CIIAniTY OUICKEXED BY TIEPENTANCE. 
 
 afterwards, by delivering him from prison, again through the 
 ministry of an angel ; and by that witness which he bore at Jeru- 
 salem, when the Apostles and Elders were assembled in council, 
 against the first corrupters of the Church ! 
 
 Thus, wherever we find St. Peter mentioned in the Acts, he is 
 employed in " strengthening the brethren ;" and when we read his 
 two epistles, we find them remarkably answering the same de- 
 scription. The very word, " confirm," or " strengthen," appears 
 to have dwelt upon his mind, from his manner of using it more 
 than once. The whole, indeed, of his first epistle is taken up 
 with strengthening his brethren against persecution ; and of the 
 second, against false and corrupt doctrine. And so he went on to 
 the end. He who was of himself as a reed shaken with the wind, 
 by his union with Jesus Christ, and the commission he received 
 from Him, came to be an unshaken rock, on which the unstable 
 but well-meaning might lay hold, and find great support in time 
 of need. 
 
 Thus was St. Peter the chosen type and sample of the aid, which 
 Christ has provided for us all, by ordaining regularly Bishops and 
 Pastors in His Church. They are His special provision for 
 strengthening the brethren ; and if, in spite of this gracious care 
 of His, the brethren still continue weak and unstable, whose fault 
 can it be, but either the Pastors' own, for being in some way un- 
 faithful to their trust, or else the people's, for refusing obediently 
 to hear and follow them } 
 
 Considering more particularly the words of the text, they seem 
 to caution us especially against a certain way of thinking, which 
 goes as far, perhaps, as any other, in making void Christ's good 
 purpose in the ordinance of the Christian Ministry, discouraging 
 very sadly both Pastors and people. The feeling I mean is, that 
 when God's Ministers are known to have done amiss, or to be 
 chargeable with some particular imperfection in their office, pre- 
 sently the devil is at hand to suggest that it is vain, perhaps 
 presumptuous, for such as they to labour in so holy a calling. 
 When this thought arises in a Pastor's own heart, it makes him 
 idle, arid listless in his duty; when in the heart of any of his flock, 
 it no less certainly makes them disrespectful and undutiful. The 
 right way, of course, is to encourage it, so far as it makes us 
 humble, but to overcome it, when it would check us in our plain 
 
CHAUITY QUICKENED BY REPENTANCE. 1*39 
 
 duty. For instance, if any of our former sins, of which we have 
 truly repented, comes strongly before our conscience, we ought 
 not to let it hinder us from setting about any good duty, but it 
 should be brought before God, in prayer that He would make us 
 very humble, circumspect, and serious in our way of performing 
 that duty. 
 
 And as to the people, — the infirmity of their Pastors, or of any 
 others in authority over them, should cause them not to despise, 
 but to pray for them. 
 
 In both cases, the example of St. Peter, if we would recollect 
 it, might do much good. See what our Lord says to him ; 
 "Thou art on the point of a sad fall ; but when thou hast been 
 raised up again, strengthen thy brethren." St. Peter, then, if 
 after his repentance he had drawn back from holy offices under 
 the notion of being unworthy, would not have done according to 
 Christ's will : and if the people had rejected or scorned him for 
 the same cause, they would have been resisting Christ's ordinance. 
 He was neither to be slothful, and omit warning others, because 
 the remembrance of his own three denials of Christ hung heavy 
 at his heart ; nor were they to taunt him with it, or say, This 
 man preaches faith, yet he denied his Master in danger. 
 
 We see at once how utterly unsuitable and wrong such 
 feelings as these would have been in St. Peter's case. Let us 
 depend on it, the like feelings cannot be very right, — cannot well 
 please Christ, — in the case of any other Bishop or Pastor, and the 
 people committed to his charge. It never can be right, either in 
 Pastors or in any other Christians, to become negligent of their 
 duty in time to come, because they are uneasy at the thought of 
 wrong conduct in times past. Rather let us say to ourselves, 
 " If so great exertion was necessary for a holy man like St. 
 Peter, after he had been betrayed into one sin, of which, however, 
 he bitterly and for ever repented, at the first call from his Master ; 
 how anxious, how unwearied, how self-denying, ought we to be, 
 who have sinned, perhaps repeatedly and wilfully, after grace so 
 much greater than St. Peter's, inasmuch as he was not yet in the 
 kingdom of Heaven, as we have been ever since our baptism ! 
 And we most likely needed to be called many and many times 
 before we would repent ; whereas the holy St. Peter, at one look 
 
140 CHARITY QUICKENED BY REPENTANCE. 
 
 from his Master, remembered himself, and returned to his better 
 mind ! 
 
 " At least let us be diliger.t in our repentance, now that we have 
 in some sort repented : let us be as active in good works as ever 
 we have been in sins : that we may not forfeit His grace and 
 mercy, Who only can make atonement for us : and that we may 
 show ourselves truly thankful to Him for so great goodness, in 
 that He not only redeemed us at first, but also still allows us a 
 chance of recovery, after our doing so much to cast away His 
 bounty from us." 
 
 And among other fruits of repentance, it becomes us to be very 
 earnest, as St. Peter was, in warning and guarding our brethren, 
 as God gives us oppoi-tunity, against the special sin, be it what it 
 may, to which we have been unhappily too much inclined our- 
 selves. Only let us beware that this our care be truly charitable ; 
 that we do not seek to be praised or approved, nor to make our- 
 selves out, in any manner, worthy and good sort of men. Let us 
 check our high thoughts, and the pleasure we are apt to find in 
 being praised, with the recollection of those faults of our own, 
 which we know, and God knows, but w^hich we should least wish 
 for man to know. Let that remembrance hang heavy on our 
 hearts, and prevent us from ever again feeling gay and delighted 
 when our brethren praise us : as it is said of St. Peter, that 
 through all his after life, great and good and holy as he was, and 
 mighty as were his works wrought in Christ's name for His 
 Church, he never could hear the cock crow without weeping : 
 that sound had more power to distress him, than the praise of all 
 the Churches had to exalt him. Thus did he acknowledge his 
 fault, and his sin was ever before him. 
 
 So whereinsoever any Christian has fallen, and has been by 
 God's grace raised up, let him alwavs bear in mind how near he 
 has been to the worst of evils ; how he had brought himself into 
 the most dangerous condition, from which nothing but tlie inter- 
 cession of Christ could save him. Let him be ashamed that he 
 did not repent sooner, and that when he did, it was in such poor 
 and scanty measure. Let hira assure himself that the evil one, 
 from whose snares he has in part recovered, is watching him day 
 and night, more eager, if possible, to overthrow him again, than 
 he was to tempt him to his former sin. 
 
CHARI'l'Y QUICKENED BY REPENTANCE. 141 
 
 We have all need of God's forgiveness : great, unspeakable 
 need of it. Let us not forget that our chance of it depends, in 
 great measure, on our doing our best for our brethren. 
 
 Remember the saying of an holy Apostle : " Brethren, if any 
 of you do err from the truth, and one convert him, let him know 
 that he which converteth a sinner from the error of his ways, 
 shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." 
 
SERMON CLXXXIII. 
 
 PROFIT AND HOME FORSAKEN FOR CHRIST. 
 
 tUH THE FEAUT OF ST. JAMES THE APOSTLE. 
 
 St. Matthew iv. 21, 22. 
 
 "And He called tliem : and they immediately left the ship and their father, and 
 followed him.'' 
 
 The Collect for the day points out to us, as usual with our 
 Church on Saints' days, a part of St. James's example for our par- 
 ticular imitation. We pray that as he left his father and all that 
 he had, and without delay was ohedient unto the calling of 
 Christ, and followed Him, so we, forsaking all worldly and 
 carnal affections, may be evermore ready to follow His holy Com- 
 mandments. 
 
 Thus our thoughts are carried back to the time when it seemed 
 good to the Son of God, in His divine foresight, to call four 
 fishermen from their work on the shore of the sea of Galilee to 
 be His Apostles, and chief foundations of His Church. " Follow 
 Me," He said, first to St. Peter and St. Andrew, " and I will 
 make you fishers of men." " They drew their nets to land, for- 
 sook all, and followed Him." Presently after, going a little 
 further. He saw their partners also, " James the son of Zebedee, 
 and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mend- 
 ing their nets : and He called them : and they immediately left 
 the ship and their father, land followed Him." 
 
 Now, although both these pairs of holy brethren, St. Peter and 
 St. Andrew first, and afterwards St. James and St. John, were 
 
PROFIT AND HOME FORSAKEN FOR CHRIST. 143 
 
 called by our Saviour at one time, from one employment, and 
 both alike followed Him without delay, yet the history, when 
 narrowly considered, seems to signify certain differences between 
 those who were first and those who were afterwards called ; 
 between St. Peter's case and St. James's ; differences which are 
 not unimportant to be considered by us. 
 
 It would appear as if Zebedee and his sons were what the 
 world calls " better off" than Simon and Andrew, the sons of 
 Jonah. For of these latter, when our Lord finally summoned 
 them, it is only said, that " when they had brought their ships to 
 land, they forsook all and followed Him :" but of James and 
 John, that " they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the 
 hired servants, and followed after Jesus." 
 
 They had then a father alive ; and, as the history shows after- 
 wards, a mother. For Salome, the mother of Zebedee's children, 
 was one of those who waited on our Lord in Galilee. To her 
 care the Blessed Virgin was intrusted by our Lord Himself, when 
 He said on the Cross to her son, " Behold thy mother." And 
 on the morning of the Resurrection, she was one of the women 
 who came early to the sepulchre with sweet spices, to do honour 
 to our Lord's Body. 
 
 Both the father, then, and the mother of St. James were living 
 at the time of our Saviour's call to him : but we have no reason 
 to think the same of St. Peter. "We know that he had been mar- 
 ried, and that his wife and her mother were perhaps living, but 
 we have no mention of his parents in the New Testament : and 
 it seems likely that they were both dead, before the time that he 
 was summoned to leave his home. 
 
 Again, the mention of " the hired servants," would make 
 it appear that Zebedee, St. James's father, was in a some- 
 what easier and more plentiful condition of life than St. Peter and 
 St. Andrew were. And this agrees with what we read of St. 
 John, James's brother, being known to the High-Priest, so that 
 he ventured after Jesus into the palace of the High-Priest, when 
 all the other disciples were afraid to follow Him there. 
 
 St. James then, in common with his brother St. John, had 
 this above many others to render his obedience to our Lord's call 
 particularly acceptable ; that he gave up the society of his parents 
 to do so. He might have enjoyed, as other people of his rank did. 
 
]44 PROFIT AND HO.ME FORSAKEN FOR CHRIST. 
 
 a comfortable home, and a respectable place in the world. But 
 he left all this to follow One Who had not where to lay His head; 
 Who was called a Samaritan, a deceiver, and said to have deal- 
 ings with the devil. 
 
 And St. James did this at once. He did not stand waiting and 
 considering, but courageously obeyed the first invitation, to join 
 himself to our most Holy Saviour. He and his younger brother, 
 St. John, immediately " left the ship and their father, and followed 
 after Jesus." 
 
 St. James, then, may be regarded as affording an example and 
 encouragement to those who follow Christ, in two sorts of trials 
 more particularly : those which arise from a thriving condition in 
 the world, and those which attend, sometimes, on a quiet and 
 comfortable home. To obey our Lord's call, he left " both the 
 ship and his father:" both the business to which he had been 
 brought up, and on which he might depend, if not for wealth, at 
 least for a comfortable maintenance ; and the consolation of being 
 with his parents, and living peaceably at home with them. 
 
 And for this, his double self-denial, how greatly was he re- 
 warded ! Our Lord received him to be not only a disciple, but 
 an Apostle ; and not only an Apostle, but one out of three whom 
 He particularly favoured above the other Apostles, keeping them 
 near Him on the highest and holiest occasions, when the rest 
 were bade remain at the threshold, so to speak, of His glories. 
 St. Peter, St. James, and St. John were alone with Him, when 
 He raised Jairus's daughter, and restored her to her afflicted 
 parents : alone with Him in the holy Mount, when He was trans- 
 figured, and had Moses and Elias talking with Him : alone (except 
 St. Andrew) with Him, when he uttered those awful prophecies 
 concerning the end of the world : alone with Him, finally, when 
 He submitted Himself to His agony in the garden, and " His 
 sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the 
 ground, and there appeared unto Him an Angel from Heaven 
 strengthening Him." St. James, in each case, is the second 
 named of the highly-favoured ones, whom He chose among living 
 men, to be His witnesses on these solemn occasions. 
 
 Again, St. James was the very first of the Apostolic College to 
 follow his Lord in martyrdom. When " Herod stretched forth 
 his hand to vex certain of the Church, he killed James the brother 
 
PROFIT AND HOIME FORSAKEN FOR CHRIST. 145 
 
 of John with the sword," Up to that time, the number of the 
 holy Twelve, restored in St. Matthias after Judas's sad fall, had 
 continued complete : but now it seemed good to our Saviour to 
 grant to this faithful Apostle the crown of all His favours, the 
 honour of dying for Him. And thus he tasted, according to his 
 own prayer, of the cup which our Lord drank of, and was bap- 
 tized with the baptism that He had been baptized withal. 
 
 It might seem almost sinful presumption, for such as we 
 are, to take to ourselves, as if intended for our pattern, the 
 example of so great and holy a Saint, one brought so very near 
 the Person of our Divine Saviour Himself. But we know that 
 it is not presumption, since even Christ's own example, and that 
 of tlie Eternal Father, are set before us for our study and imita- 
 tion. We are bid to do to one another as Christ did to His 
 disciples; and to "be perfect as our Father which is in Heaven 
 is perfect." Much less then must we shrink from contemplating 
 the pattern of any Saint or Apostle, how holy and glorious soever, 
 as one which we ought to copy ; since we shall surely be judged 
 by all such patterns, once made known to us by God's Providence, 
 in His Holy Scriptures or His Church. They will be reckoned 
 among the talents, which will burthen and sink us into earth at 
 the last day, if we be found to have neglected the due improve- 
 ment of them now. 
 
 Does any man ask how he can imitate St. James, he, a private 
 Christian, not called to be an Apostle, not summoned by the pro- 
 vidence of God to any one great sacrifice, which might gather as 
 it were into one the self-denials of a whole life .'' Let such an one 
 think this within himself, that there may be, there probably are, 
 occasions in which his worldly business, whatever it be, is apt to 
 interfere more or less with his duty to our Saviour. The memory 
 and fancy of his shop, his plough, his garden, or his loom, mingles 
 unseasonably with his prayers and holy readings, and tries to hinder 
 him from attending to our Saviour's voice, inwardly whisper- 
 ing," Follow Me." Well, on all such occasions, let us manfully put 
 aside the intruding thought, saying as Felix did, but with a better 
 meaning, " Go thy way now, and come again when I shall have a 
 convenient season." 
 
 It may be, that by such constant and resolute attendance on his 
 
146 PROFIT AND HOME FORSAKEN FOR CHRIST. 
 
 pravers, determined neither to miss them, nor to go through them 
 with his mind elsewhere, a Christian may seem as if he should be 
 more or less a loser in this present world. So much the more let 
 him keep to his purpose. It will indeed be a blessing, should God 
 give him some little share of the reward of those who suffer in 
 earnest, be it little or much, in His Name. 
 
 But let us suppose his trial of another kind. Suppose it comes, 
 not from worldly gain, but from worldly peace and quiet, and home 
 satisfactions. Doubtless a quiet and affectionate home is one of 
 the greatest blessings that a man can imagine in this world ; yet 
 even this may sometimes prove a mischief. " A man's foes," as 
 our Lord said, may sometimes "be of his own household." As 
 our Lord's own Brethren came out to take hold on Him, and 
 prevent His preaching, saying, " He is beside Himself:" so it is 
 very easy to imagine how, in ten thousand ways, affectionate, but 
 worldly-minded fathers, and brethren, and friends, and husbands, 
 and wives, may check one another in their duties, especially in the 
 self-denying parts of Christian holiness : how with the kindest feel- 
 ings, they may be always striving to put us wrong. Their example 
 too often speaks aloud, and says, " Surely you need practise no 
 kind of severity or strictness." Their instructions not seldom take 
 us the same way. They cannot bear to see people denying them- 
 selves, and make a point of interrupting them, by every kind of 
 earnest remonstrance, and expression of feeling : much as St. 
 Peter did, when he took and rebuked our Saviour, saying, " Be 
 it far from Thee, Loud; this shall not be unto Thee." 
 
 Certainly I should imagine, that from one friend or another, 
 most of us must have met before now with objections to holy obe- 
 dience, not altogether unlike this : which is as if it had pleased 
 Zebedee, when he heard Christ call his sons, to argue against 
 the call, and say, " He could not yet so well spare them : it was 
 too nmch to ask of them quite entirely to give up their old employ- 
 ment : for a time, and in some measure, they might come, but he 
 could not willingly permit them to give up all." 
 
 Now we see what St. James and St. John would have 
 done, had their father Zebedee made objections like these, as so 
 many people do now, to their children's wholly following Christ 
 and His Church. With all dutiful respect to their father on earth. 
 
TROFIT AND HOME FORSAKEN FOR CHRIST. 147 
 
 they would still have given hira to understand, that they looked 
 to their Father in Heaven above all : and when He called them, 
 not even a father's wish could hinder them from saying, " Here am 
 I." We read not that Zebedee made any opposition to his sons' 
 joining Christ, but if he had, this we know must have been the 
 tenor of their answer : according to their Lord's declaration 
 afterwards, "If any man come after Me, and hate not his father 
 arid mother," — if he be not prepared to give them up rather than 
 Christ, and so to practise what the world will call, " hating them," 
 — " he cannot be My Disciple." And in a like spirit, no doubt, 
 should every Christian make answer, when tempted by parent or 
 near friend, directly or indirectly, to break any of Christ's plain 
 commandments, or to live in contempt of the holy ordinances of 
 His Church. 
 
 Persons who, in sincerity and truth, make sacrifices of this 
 kind, — who really prefer, not their own fancy, but Christ's will, 
 even to family comfort, — may find great encouragement in the 
 favour which our Lord showed to His Holy Apostle, St. James. 
 Their prayers for light and strength, they have every reason to 
 hope, will be bountifully answered; Christ will make Himself pe- 
 cuharly present to them, in all His works, both of mercy, of wonder, 
 and of judgment : whether He raise the dead, or show Himself 
 in agony or in glory, or come to judge Jerusalem, those who have 
 made great sacrifices for Him will be His favoured and honoured 
 witnesses. 
 
 But let them beware of one thing, which also the after history 
 of St. James points out, and that is, presuming on Christ's 
 favour. Those too much beloved brethren, the sons of Thun- 
 der, rejoicing as they did in their special nearness to Him, 
 were anxious to have it continued for ever, and that in preference 
 to all others. He rebuked them so far, as that He would not 
 suffer them to dream of obtaining a high place by any partiality of 
 His. The humblest person. He said, would have it, whosoever that 
 person might be : and He turned their ambition, rather, to the 
 thought of trials to be endured for His sake. " Ye shall drink 
 indeed, of My cup, and be baptized with My Baptism : but to sit 
 on My right hand, and on My left, is not Mine to give." 
 
 God give us grace, my Christian Brethren, to practise such a 
 
148 PROFIT AND HOME FORSAKEN FOR CHRIST. 
 
 mind as this: not to value ourselves on any little sacrifices, which 
 He in His mercy may give us an opportunity of making for Him : 
 but still to look forward to the unknown hour, when we shall have 
 to drink of His cup, to die as He hath died before us ! With that 
 hour full on our mind, may we cheerfully pass by whatever stands 
 in our way, and being called by Christ, give ourselves \x\} forth- 
 with to fulfil His holy commandments ! 
 
SERMON CLXXXIV. 
 
 ANGELS WAITING ON THE CHURCH. 
 
 FOR ST. BARTHOLOMEW S DAY. 
 
 St. John i. 51. 
 
 " Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see Heaven open, and the 
 angels of God ascending and descending upon tiie Son of Man." 
 
 It does not seem certain, whether or no St. Bartholomew, whose 
 memory we honour this day with thanksgiving to God, was or 
 was not the same with Nathanael, that Israehte without guile, 
 whom our Lord so graciously received on his first approach to 
 Him. Whether they were two persons or one, is a matter on 
 which those who know most of Christian antiquity hardly seem 
 to have made up their minds. 
 
 However, it is clear that the promise, addressed by our Lord 
 to Nathanael, is well suited to our consideration on any Apostle's 
 day, and especially when the Church, as to-day by her Epistle, 
 calls our attention more particularly to the marvellous tokens of 
 God's Presence, which St. Bartholomew, in common with the 
 other Apostles, received. " By their hands were many signs 
 and wonders wrought among the people : — insomuch that they 
 bi-Qught the sick into the streets, and laid them upon beds and 
 couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might 
 overshadow some of them ' :" God giving such grace to those His 
 first chosen witnesses, as He afterwards did to St. Paul : when 
 " from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs and 
 aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits 
 » Acts V. 12, 15. 
 
 VOL. VI. M 
 
150 ANGELS WAITING ON THE CHURCH. 
 
 ■went out of them ^." The touch of St. Paul's garments, the shadow 
 of St. Peter's body, had such healing virtue, as before their time 
 had been given to the hem of our LorU's garment ; and in both 
 instances the cause and spring of the healing power was the same ; 
 namely, the Touch of Jesus Christ. " Virtue went out of Him," 
 which not only healed, but gave power to heal : like the kind of 
 stone which we have all seen or heard of, which not only draws 
 iron to itself, but causes whatsoever iron it touches to have the 
 same power of attracting other iron. 
 
 This power, I say, of working miracles, in consequence of the 
 touch of the Body of Jesus Christ, is probably part, at least, of 
 the meaning of the promise which our Lord made to Nathanael 
 and Philip in the text. " Hereafter shall ye see Heaven open, 
 and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son 
 OF Man." It will, therefore, be not out of season, if I endeavour 
 to show, first, how this was fulfilled in those very times ; then, in 
 what sense we may understand it as still receiving fulfilment in 
 our times; and lastly, what use it becomes us to make of so 
 wondrous and merciful a communication. 
 
 First, then, in this promise to Nathanael and the rest, there is 
 a clear allusion to the history of the Patriarch Jacob ; of whom 
 we read in the Book of Genesis, that when he was on his way 
 from his father's house, " he dreamed, and behold a ladder set 
 up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven ; and be- 
 hold the Angels of God ascending and descending on it : and, 
 behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God 
 of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac : the land whereon 
 thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed : and thy seed 
 shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to 
 the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south ; 
 and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be 
 blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all 
 places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this 
 laud ; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I 
 have spoken to thee of \" 
 
 Such was the vision of our father Jacob ; in which we cannot 
 well doubt that Cod prophetically showed him, in the first place, 
 His special providence over the Jewish people, the Angels coming 
 =• Acts xix. 12. n Gen, xxviii. 12— 15. 
 
ANGELS WAITING ON THE CHURCH. 151 
 
 and going, as we know they did, on God's special messages to 
 them : next, and chiefly. He showed him the same Angels, em- 
 ployed in the higher office of waiting on Him, Who either in His 
 own Person, or in His Church, is the true substance whereof 
 Israel was but the shadow. 
 
 Our Lord, it will be observed, had just called Nathanael an 
 Israelite ; " an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile ;" and by 
 that name He had recalled the memory of the great patriarch 
 Jacob, of whom it had been especially written, that he was " a 
 plain," that is, a guileless man. So that when Christ afterwards 
 made mention of the " Angels ascending and descending," it 
 would not be hard for considerate persons to understand that in 
 effect He was saying thus : " Now is the time coming that you 
 will see Jacob's vision fulfilled ; a new and blessed intercourse is 
 going to begin between Heaven and earth ; the stairs are let 
 down which must join the eternal world to this ; Almighty God 
 is ready, at the top of them, to send His Angels on His thousand 
 errands of mercy, to His Son, incarnate and abiding among men 
 for man's sake. And this scene of wonders will begin imme- 
 diately, and will never cease while the Son of Man continues on 
 any sense in earth. ' The way into the holiest of all will now be 
 made manifest ;' Heaven will be opened, and never shut again ; 
 and the blessed inhabitants will be continually passing to and fro 
 between it and earth : and you shall see it ; you with all saints 
 shall be witnesses by faith of these things." 
 
 Such is the prophecy ; and it is easy to see how it was accom- 
 plished, in the first instance, and in our Lord's abode on earth. 
 The blessed Spirits who had announced His birth, who watched 
 His infancy, who waited on Him after His temptation, as they 
 appeared to Him also in His agony, and kept guard around His 
 grave on the morning of His Resurrection, and stood by (appa- 
 rently) when He ascended into Heaven : so we are not to doubt 
 that they waited on Him, though unseen, in all His mighty and 
 merciful works. We see that the very day after this promise 
 was made to Nathanael, the first miracle took place ; the water 
 at the marriage in Cana was changed into wine ; upon which 
 St. John emphatically observes, " This beginning of miracles did 
 Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth His glory, and 
 His Disciples believed on Him." As if he had said, " Thus our 
 
 M 2 
 
152 anctEls waiting on the church. 
 
 Lord began to show that glory which He had told His Disciples 
 of: and they, seeing His words so punctually accomplished, be- 
 lieved on Him. 
 
 Bv thus supposing that the coming and going of the Angels 
 refers especially to our Lord's miracles, we shall be able to ex- 
 plain the word " hereafter," which He uses at the beginning of 
 this prophecy. It means properly, "from this time forward:" 
 leading them to expect that quite immediately that manifestation 
 of the new state of things would begin : Angels had been coming 
 and going long before, but now they were to see with their eyes 
 visible tokens of the awful intercourse ; and that without delay ; 
 and not once or twice only, but as a continued gift of God for a 
 long time. All which we see to have been exactly accomplished, 
 if we suppose the Angels to have been invisibly our Lord's minis- 
 ters in working His miracles, as we have much reason to believe 
 that they are in carrying on His ordinary government of the 
 world, and in keeping up what we commonly call the course of 
 nature. We read in Scripture of the Angel of the waters, of 
 Angels whom the Almighty uses as spirits or winds, of ministers 
 whom He sends forth as flaming fire ; and well may we suppose 
 such Angels to have been at work, obeying the will and com- 
 mands of their Lord in changing the water into wine, in strength- 
 ening the palsied, opening the eyes of the blind, cleansing the 
 lepers, and the many other signs by which ourliORD, the Creator 
 of the world, showed Himself Lord over the things that He 
 made. 
 
 One occasion we know there was, in which He employed an 
 Angel for cure, namely, at the pool of Bethesda, when, after the 
 troubling of the water by one of those invisible messengers, 
 " whosoever first stepped in was made whole of whatever disease 
 he had." One instance we read of also, wherein He employed the 
 evil Angels to work His will, sending them into the herd of swine; 
 whereby it seems to be rendered the more probable, that He 
 might in like manner employ the good Angels when He was per- 
 forming miracles of mercy ; and that the ordering and changing 
 of such things as health and sickness, sight and blindness, and in 
 general of things natural, in obedience to His will, might be part, 
 at least, of what was meant by their ascending and descending 
 upon Him. 
 
ANGELS WAITING ON THE CHURCH. 153 
 
 Thus we see how the prophecy of the Angels coming and going 
 in men's sight was fulfilled in our Lord's own time : but the 
 words of it are by no means limited to that time. Our Lord's 
 expression is, "hereafter;" namely, "from this time forward;" as 
 though He were speaking of a state of things which would begin 
 presently and never have an end. It is the same word as He 
 employed to the chief priests, when adjured to declare whether 
 He were the Christ or no. " I am," He said; "and hereafter 
 ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, 
 and coming in the clouds of Heaven :" as much as to say, that 
 His humiliation was now quite over, and that from henceforth 
 all we should see or hear of Him would be so many tokens or 
 pledges of His new and glorious condition. As the word " here- 
 after," in that case, means all time after our Lord's trial, even to 
 the end of the world, so in the text it may mean all time after 
 this conversation with Nathanael ; not limited, in words at least, 
 whatever it might be by meaning, to His mighty miracles done in 
 His own time. 
 
 If this be so, we ought to be able to point out some sense in 
 which the Son of Man might be said to abide on earth, and was 
 considered in the prophecies as so doing, when, in fact. He was 
 gone away into Heaven. Neither is this hard to find out. 
 Christ (in the language of Scripture) is so completely one with 
 His Church ; we are so completely one with Him ; He is so 
 touched by the burthen of our innocent infirmities ; and is so 
 joined to us by the communion of Saints, so present in us by His 
 Holt Spirit, our Comforter, that we may well apply to the 
 Church the prophecies which speak of Jesus Christ ; and among 
 the rest, that which says, Angels of God should ascend and 
 descend upon it. If Angels had to do with miracles, surely they 
 ascended and descended on the members of Christ, as they had 
 before on Christ Himself: for we have seen what signs and 
 wonders the Apostles wrought by the Name of the Holy Child, 
 and by the power of His Spirit. 
 
 But how are we to carry on the meaning of the promise, to the 
 times after which miracles are supposed to have ended ? to our 
 own times, for example, in which, as it should seem, all the 
 powers of Nature are going on regularly : they " continue as they 
 were even from the beginning of the Creation," How can it be said. 
 
154 ANGELS WAITING ON THE CHURCH. 
 
 that we even now may see the Angels ascending and descending 
 on Christ our Lord ? It may be said in this way : We and all 
 Christians are members of Christ ; the Church, which is His 
 Body, composed of us all, is in a certain sense Christ Himself ; 
 and although there are no miracles, properly so called, striking 
 our senses, there are certain wonderful works, which Christ 
 carries on in the Church by certain of His creatures ; of which 
 works, according to all that has been said, we may well enough 
 imagine the Lord of all to have been speaking, when He talked 
 of Angels to ascend and descend upon Himself. What are those 
 works ? They are the means of grace, prayer and the holy ordi- 
 nances of the Church, and most especially the two most blessed 
 Sacraments, Baptism and the holy Eucharist. In each of these, 
 certain things natural, certain of what we call the powers of Nature, 
 are employed : and we have seen that Almighty God in His Scrip- 
 tures, speaking of what He works in that way, teaches us often 
 to think that it is done by Angels. So that this promise 
 of Angels going to and fro, may be accomplished, partly at least, 
 in the intercourse which God keeps up with Christ's members on 
 earth, through the means of grace before mentioned. 
 
 Consider first among them the case of Prayer. I do not mean 
 the secret occasional prayer of the heart, concerning which, as of 
 all other private thoughts, it is written, "Thou, even Thou only, 
 knowest the hearts of all the children of men :" but I mean such 
 regular devotion, both outward and inward, as our Lord directed 
 in His Sermon on the Mount ; " Enter into thy closet, and shut 
 thy door, and pray to thy Father which is in secret :" or such as 
 the Psalmist invites us to, saying, " O come, let us worship, and fall 
 down, and kneel before theLoRD our Maker." This regular devotion, 
 both of soul and body, the Angels can take notice of, and there- 
 fore we may well believe, according to the hints of Holy Scrip- 
 ture and the constant opinion of the early Church, that they take 
 part in it ; even as one of them was seen in a vision by St. John, 
 offering incense in a golden censer, " with the prayers of all 
 saints," upon the golden altar which was before the Throne. 
 Therefore we may well believe that solemn prayer, especially 
 public Church prayer, is one of the occasions on which that is 
 fulfilled to us, which our Lord promised to His Disciples. 
 "Heaven" is then "opened" and we may see by faith "the 
 
ANGELS WAITING ON THE CHURCH. 155 
 
 Angels of God ascending and descending " upon the members of 
 Christ here below. 
 
 Hear the words of a venerable writer of our Church : " Between 
 the Throne of God in Heaven and His Church upon earth here 
 militant, if it be so, that Angels have their continual intercourse, 
 where shall we find the same more verified, than in these two 
 ghostly exercises, the one Doctrine, the other Prayer ? For what 
 is the assembling of the Church to learn, but the receiving of 
 Angels descended from above ? What, to pray, but the sending 
 of Angels upward*?" We see, indeed, no miracles, nothing at 
 least which the world would call miracles ; but when we see 
 Christians assembled together, in the name of Christ, and by 
 His Apostles' authority, offering the sacrifice of praise and 
 thanksgiving, we see what certifies us of Heaven being opened, as 
 positively as the first Disciples were assured of it by the change of 
 water into wine, and the rest of our Lord's mighty works. 
 There He continues the miracles which He began in Cana : 
 there He manifests forth His glory : let us. His Disciples, believe 
 on Him. 
 
 And if Angels are present, and signs and wonders are wrought, 
 in the ordinary assemblies of the holy Church, well may we 
 believe the like grace to attend on the rest of her visible rites and 
 ordinances. When Bishops, who are themselves called Angels in 
 the New Testament, lay their hands on the baptized, imparting to 
 them the strengthening spirit : or, on those who are called to be 
 pastors, bidding them receive the Holy Ghost, for some high 
 office and work in His Church : or when they enter into a newly- 
 builded Church, and bless and hallow it with prayer, in the name 
 of our Lord : we dare not doubt that in all these cases, true, 
 though unseen. Angels are present ; — true, though unseen, com- 
 munion goes on, between the Most High God on the top of the 
 heavenly stairs, and His Israel waiting by faith here below ; — true, 
 though unseen, miracles are wrought, if we hinder them not by 
 our unbelief and unworthiness. For is it not a true though 
 unseen miracle, for the laying on of a man's hand to be followed 
 by the strengthening Spirit ; or by such a change in the person 
 on whom it is laid, as shall make him a true successor of the 
 Apostles, and convey down to him the power and virtue of their 
 * Hooker, Eccl. Pol. v. c, 23. 
 
156 ANGELS WAITING ON THE CHURCH. 
 
 ministry ? Is it not a true though unseen miracle, for an ordinary 
 building to be changed, by the prayer of a Bishop, into a place 
 where the glory of God dwells, as it dwelt in the temple of 
 Jerusalem ? 
 
 And if this be so in the other sacred rites and ordinances of the 
 holy Catholic Church, much more surely in those two, which are 
 the necessary foundation of all, being the appointed means 
 for the participation of Christ Himself, by virtue of which 
 participation alone can we be sharers in these or in any other 
 blessings. I mean the two divine Sacraments, of Holy Baptism, 
 and the Supper or Communion of our Lord. 
 
 As to the peculiar presence of Angels, in the baptism of 
 children especially; we know what our Lord intimated, that such 
 have Angels of their own in Heaven, who always behold His 
 Father's face ; Angels of a high and glorious order, which are 
 yet in some sense those children's own : and if they are their 
 own, they minister unto them : and if they minister unto them, 
 who can doubt that they do so especially in the moment of their 
 baptism, when they are being made members of Christ, brought 
 out of darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God ? 
 Baptism, therefore, is one of the chiefest occasions on which 
 children, and such as children, may be sure of that presence of 
 Angels ascending and descending, which our Lord promised to 
 His Church through Philip and Nathanael : and, to be sure, no 
 miracle can be greater, if we have faith to take Scripture at its 
 word, than what is wrought in holy Baptism. It was wonderful 
 enough that a man should be cleansed of his leprosy by washing 
 in the river Jordan ; but it is nothing, absolutely nothing, to the 
 Holy Ghost by water working the new-birth of a Christian; 
 making him, who was born in sin, and the moment before a child 
 of wrath, to become a member of Christ, clothed with His 
 righteousness, — a child of God and of heavenly grace. 
 
 There is this difference, that the change was seen in Naaman's 
 case, in holy Baptism it is not seen. But it is the very province 
 and power of faith, to do away with this difference, to make us see 
 the things which are invisible. It is nothing but want of con- 
 siderate, lively faith, which prevents us from feeling, whenever 
 we are present at a Baptism, as if we had lived in our Lord's 
 time, and seen with our own eyes one of His greatest miracles. 
 
ANGELS WAITING ON THE CHURCH. 157 
 
 Lastly, if holy Baptism, then no doubt the holy Communion of 
 Christ's Body and Blood, is another and a chief instance of our 
 seeing " Heaven opened, and the Angels of God ascending and 
 descending upon the Son of Man." The Son of God Incarnate 
 is with us, in that mystery, in a manner wherein He is not with 
 us in any other holy service. The Angels, therefore, as the 
 Church always believed, are there especially, joining in our prayers 
 and praises. Indeed St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, 
 may be well thought to tell us so in express words. He says, 
 " Are they not all ministering spirits }" where the word " minis- 
 tering " is the very same, which was used in those times to denote 
 the solemn Liturgy, or service of the Communion ; and his man- 
 ner of asking the question, " Are they not all such ?" would seem 
 as if he were not teaching a new truth, but reminding the 
 Christians, to whom he wrote, of a doctrine and saying well known 
 among them ; — a doctrine acknowledged also in our Communion 
 service, as often as we profess to sing our Hymn of Glory, with 
 Angels and Archangels, and with all the company of Heaven. 
 Doubt not, therefore, nor fear earnestly to believe, that in the 
 holy Eucharist also Angels are present, and miracles continually 
 wrought : for what can be a greater miracle, than that the con- 
 secrated Bread and Wine should be, to the faithful receiver, 
 Christ's Body and Blood? or that the blessing pronounced 
 by our Lord at the beginning, should be continued, down 
 through His Apostles and Bishops, and the priests appointed by 
 them, and so descend, at the present day, on the bread which 
 they break, and the cup which they bless, in His name ? These, 
 if they be truths at all, are great and fearful truths : and no cor- 
 ruption or irreverence of others should keep us from bowing the 
 knees of our hearts, and humbly acknowledging such an awful 
 presence of our Lord, any more than we should be kept from 
 worshipping the true God, because, if we lived in India or Africa, 
 we should see others worshipping idols. 
 
 These things will not have been considered in vain, if they 
 give any help to any of us, in contemplating the times of the 
 first Christians, as being, in fact, our times ; the miracles, then 
 wrought openly, as pledges of the unseen, but no less miraculous, 
 working of God with us, in His Church and Sacraments. So 
 may we, by God's grace, understand a little of our exceeding 
 
158 ANGELS WAITING ON THE CHURCH. 
 
 blindness and danger, as many as go on wilfully in sin and 
 imperfection, although we know that Heaven is still open, and the 
 Powers thereof ascending and descending upon us. Rather may 
 we all awake, with our father Jacob, and say to ourselves, night 
 and day, " Surely the Lord is here, and we knew it not." Let us 
 be afraid, and say, " How dreadful is this place, this kingdom of 
 Heaven, this holy Catholic Church, of which God has made us 
 members : this is none other but the house of God, and this is 
 the "rate of Heaven." 
 
SERMON CLXXXV. 
 
 HOW TO MAKE MUCH OF A LITTLE. 
 FOR ST. Matthew's day. 
 
 Psalm xxxvii. 16. 
 " A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked." 
 
 The Apostle St. Matthew was employed in collecting the taxes 
 for the Roman emperor ; — a gainful business, and reckoned even 
 sure, in those days, to make men's fortunes who practised it ; — 
 when our Blessed Lord, passing by, said only two words to him, 
 " ' Follow Me :' and he left all, rose up, and followed Him." He 
 well knew what he was doing ; giving up all that he had in this 
 world, in order to take part with One who had no home, no place 
 where He could make sure to lay His head. "Why ? Because 
 St, Matthew had full faith in what Almighty God teaches con- 
 cerning the true value of things. He felt quite sure and certain, 
 that it was better to have ever so httle, in common with Him 
 who is truly called the Righteous Man, than to have the greatest 
 estate of the richest man in the world, or all the estates of all 
 rich men put together. The smallest thing that Christ had to 
 give, was more precious to him than all the wealth of the world ; 
 and therefore he at once gave it up, and would have given it 
 up, had it been a thousand times more, in order to be admitted 
 into Christ's company. 
 
 Now this, for aught we know, might be in St. Matthew no 
 more, at the time, than a strong sort of intsinct or feeling, that 
 
160 HOW TO MAKE MUCH OF A LITTLE. 
 
 whatever else might be right or wrong, it must be right, and 
 safe, and good, to obey all the commands of the Holy Person 
 who was then speaking to him ; to follow Him, and give up all 
 for His sake. He might have been watching Christ beforehand, 
 and wishing secretly to be favoured with such a command ; and 
 Christ may have spoken to him, knowing what was in his heart. 
 Or the call may have been altogether sudden : like the call of 
 David from the sheepfolds, when he least thought of it, to be 
 King over Israel. In any case, there is no reason to think that 
 St. Matthew stood at all in doubt, balancing with himself what 
 could be said for and against his following our Lord's invitation. 
 He came as soon as ever he was called. He " made haste, and 
 prolonged not the time, to keep the commandment." He took 
 Christ's service, as it were, upon trial, like Abraham, not know- 
 ing whither he went. He felt, though perhaps he could not 
 have proved, that Christ was that Righteous One, with whom a 
 very little is better than the riches of all the publicans and great 
 men in the world. 
 
 He felt this at first, and when he had really joined himself to 
 Christ, no doubt every day and hour proved to him more and 
 more that he had been in the right, that he had chosen the wise 
 and safe course. He experienced how very far the least drop of 
 earthly consolation and enjoyment would go, when a man was 
 continually with the Holy Jesus, seeing Him and hearing His 
 Voice. 
 
 So shall it be, even now, whenever a person closes heartily, at 
 more or less cost of earthly goods, with the directions of Jesus 
 Christ, distinctly declared to us by His Church. It may be 
 mere good feeling, the warmth of his heart, at first ; he may not 
 be able to give any reason for it in words ; but let him only go on, 
 accompanying Christ and the Church in the practice of the like 
 self-denying obedience, and there will be something he cannot 
 mistake, which will tell him secretly, that so far as he acts thus, 
 just so far he is in the right way ; that an hour or a minute of 
 devout prayer, or laborious charity to Christ's little ones, is worth 
 a whole life of such pleasures as the world can give ; and that 
 even in sufferings, borne humbly and sincerely for His sake, there 
 is a drop of sweetness which makes the whole draught palatable, 
 however bitter and intolerable it may be in itself. 
 
HOW TO MAKE MUCH OF A LITTLE. I6l 
 
 As we this day keep the memory of St. Matthew's deep trust 
 in our Saviour, it will not be unsuitable to call to mind some 
 instances of this Divine power, given by the Almighty to true 
 faith and devotion of heart : that it takes up, nourishes and 
 cherishes, whatever is good and comfortable in our condition : 
 makes the most of it : spreads, enlarges, ripens it, as tl^ sun in 
 spring time does the little flowers, which would otherwise quite 
 wither away. While, on the other hand, there is in the love of 
 the world, in all kinds of covetousness, a blighting, withering 
 quality, which gradually causes the most abundant growth of 
 prosperity to shrivel and contract and shrink into nothing. " A 
 small thing that the righteous hath is better than great riches of 
 the ungodly :" the largest store that the ungodly hath, is less 
 than the least possession of the righteous. 
 
 See, for instance, in any poor cottage, where true devotion and 
 honest industry abide, how far even very scanty wages will go 
 towards providing the real comforts of life. It is not only that 
 Christian patience makes them content with a little, but somehow 
 or another. Christian prudence teaches them to make the most of 
 that little, so that it seems to grow in their hands, and to reach 
 further in the way of making them comfortable, than any one 
 would have thought possible. In this, no doubt, is a secret bless- 
 ing from God ; but we may in part see the manner of it : we can 
 understand, at any rate, how true religion, by making men con- 
 tented, keeps them in sound hearty courage, to set about any 
 thing which they see to be prudent and good for their families. 
 They lose no time in complaining, languor, and idleness, but 
 whatever their hand finds to do, they do it with all their might. 
 
 Nor is it less surprising, on the other hand, to see how irreli- 
 gious ways wear out and destroy, no one knows how, if not the 
 riches themselves of worldly men, at least all the enjoyment and 
 pleasure that might be looked for in them. How often do we 
 hear of great fortunes dissipated unexpectedly, and nothing, 
 people say, to show for it all ! How continually are the very 
 richest in embarrassment, if they spend their wealth in a mere 
 worldly way I It goes before they are aware, and they become 
 poor, without any such blessing as is promised to those, who make 
 themselves poor for Christ's sake. 
 
 This becomes still plainer, when we come down to more par- 
 
162 HOW TO MAKE MUCH OF A LITTLE. 
 
 ticulars, — to the things wherein people are supposed particularly 
 to enjoy their wealth. " Better is a dinner of herbs, where love is, 
 than a stalled ox, and hatred therewith." Who would not rather 
 be St. John in the wilderness, with the leathern girdle about his 
 loins, and his meat locusts and wild honey, than such a wealthy 
 king a^Herod, " making a feast to his lords, high captains, and 
 chief estates of Galilee ? " In the one case, every morsel is 
 sweetened by the thought of God's blessing, and the comfortable 
 hope of His approbation ; in the other, the very object is to drive 
 away all sorts of serious remembrance. This enjoyment cannot 
 bear being thought of : that, the more you think on it, the higher 
 it rises ; for if it be really a token of God's love, no thought can 
 come up to it. And thus one may readily imagine, how a very 
 little circumstance in a good man's life may grow upon him, and 
 cause him more happy thought, even in this world, than the 
 greatest prosperity of a bad man. 
 
 It is the same in the matter of health and strength. A saint 
 on a sick bed — Hezekiah turning his face to the wall and pray- 
 ing — shall do more, shall really exert more power to change the 
 face of the world, than a mighty conqueror, such as Sennacherib, 
 at the head of his army. Such an one will make the most of 
 every little interval of comparative ease ; it will be a matter of 
 conscience to him to do so ; and his minutes will often go further 
 for the good he seeks to do, than other men's hours for their 
 purpose, whatever it be. 
 
 Take another instance : — One chief supposed advantage of 
 wealth is, that it enables men to choose their company, and to 
 abound in all social enjoyment ; but one sure friend that the 
 righteous hath, is worth all the companions of the ungodly. 
 Elijah in the wilderness, with now and then a visit from an 
 angel : did he not find that the remembrance of those rare mo- 
 ments cast a light over all his long solitary hours, which quite 
 prevented them from being tedious ? Did he ever wish himself, 
 think you, in Ahab's place, with his many friends and allies, and 
 his seventy children ? 
 
 Nay, and the same rule holds, not only in respect of outward 
 things, but of knowledge also, and scholarship, and acquaintance 
 even with divine matters. Solomon, at one time of his life, 
 found by very sad experience, that " in much wisdom is much 
 
HOW TO MAKE MUCH OF A LITTLE. 163 
 
 grief, and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow ;" and 
 St. Paul " determined to know nothing among" the Corinthians, 
 " save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified :" that knowledge, which 
 the poorest among us all may have, if he will quietly bear his lot 
 for Christ's sake ; it is not even necessary that he should know 
 how to read. 
 
 Thus a little drop of knowledge, touched by divine grace, may 
 swell into a sea : as the wise son of Sirach describes God's deal- 
 ings with himself : " I came out," he says, " as a brook from a 
 river, and as a conduit into a garden : I said, I will water my 
 best garden, and will water abundantly my garden bed ; and 
 lo, my brook became a river, and my river became a sea." Be- 
 cause he applied himself to his immediate and nearest duty with 
 all his heart, God blessed him with large and high knowledge, 
 beyond all the ungodly wisdom of the world. Thus that one little 
 point, knowing what is next to be done and resolutely doing it, 
 will tell as much in the way of knowledge, as the widow's mite, 
 duly offered, in the way of riches. 
 
 Finally : such is God's mercy on the one hand, and the per- 
 verseness of men on the other, that, even in respect of spiritual 
 blessings also, the Psalmist's saying holds true, " A small 
 thing that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of 
 many wicked." A little measure of grace well emploved, and 
 received into a heart willing to be made righteous, is better, far 
 better, than the highest spiritual privileges, when God, in His 
 unsearchable judgments, has vouchsafed them to unworthy per- 
 sons. This is like our Saviour's saying, " Many shall come 
 from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and 
 Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of Heaven, but the children of 
 the kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness." And again, 
 " The publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God be- 
 fore you." And of the ten lepers who were cleansed together, 
 one only "returned to give glory to God," and "he was a 
 Samaritan." 
 
 • Here is comfort for those, who seem to be placed in less 
 favourable circumstances than others ; less within reach of the 
 means of grace ; farther from Churches, or with rarer opportuni- 
 ties of receiving the holy Sacraments. I do not deny that their 
 loss is great : yet our liORD not doubtfully gives us to understand. 
 
164 HOW TO MAKE MUCH OF A LITTLE. 
 
 that it may be made up, though they themselves know not how, 
 bv increased and most earnest prayers and endeavours on their 
 part. They may be like the woman of Canaan, who, although 
 she was in the place of the dogs, yet was allowed a portion of the 
 children's bread, because of her great faith, her persevering and 
 humble prayer. 
 
 So then, those who are afraid because of their ignorance, pro- 
 vided such ignorance be not their own fault, — persons also in 
 sickness, or old age, unable to attend Church services, — and 
 others in like case, may be sure they have not to deal with a hard 
 master. Their one talent, if they will apply themselves in 
 earnest, may be so laid out as to obtain the reward of him that 
 had five talents. 
 
 And whereas in all this there seem to be great advantages 
 offered to those, who in the world's judgment would appear worst 
 off; it may be well just to observe, in conclusion, that these rare 
 blessings are held out to the rich also, if they will but reach 
 forth their hands to take them. By fasting, and leading strict 
 lives, they may make their bodily refreshments profit them as 
 much, for comfort in this world, and grace in the kingdom of 
 Heaven, as those of the patient and contented poor. When God 
 visits them with loss of friends, or with sickness, or with any of 
 the thousand trials to which the children of Adam are exposed, 
 they will do well to consider, that so far they are put in the condi- 
 tion of the poor, or rather nearer to it, and therefore in a better 
 place for making their portion in His kingdom sure. 
 
 And so, in all respects, it will be found in the end, that there 
 is but one distinction really worth caring for — the distinction be- 
 tween those who serve God, and those who serve Him not. Of 
 all who try in earnest to serve Him, whatever their condition, the 
 saying is clear: "The rich and the poor meet together : the Lord 
 is the Maker of them all." They meet in the Church here, and 
 they shall meet before the Throne by and by, in virtue of their 
 unspeakable union in Him Who is their Maker and Redeemer. 
 
SERMON CLXXXVI. 
 
 ANGELICAL ORDER AND OBEDIENCE. 
 
 FOR ST. MICSAEL JND ALL ANGELS, 
 
 Rev. vii. 11. 
 
 " And all the Angels stood round about the Throne, and about the elders, and 
 the four beasts." 
 
 These words represent to us in vision, that which the Church's 
 CoUectfor Michaelmas-dayteaches as matter of express doctrine : — 
 the wonderful order in which the everlasting God has constituted 
 the services of Angels and men. In His glorious and heavenly 
 Household all beings know their place, and all but sinful beings 
 exactly keep it : even as the Angels are here shown to the eyes 
 of the beloved Disciple, standing in the Court and around the 
 Throne of the Most High and everlasting King, exactly in the 
 order which He had set. They are around His Throne, and around 
 His Church, gathered from mankind, which seems to be repre- 
 sented by the four beasts and the elders. They wait upon Him, 
 and, for His sake, upon His Church : not one is wanting, not one 
 out of his station : every one is exactly where he ought to be, 
 and does just what the Almightt would have him do. 
 
 The same vision was present, as appears, in spirit, to one of 
 those whom we look up to, as to bright and burning lights in our 
 own Church of England, the venerable Richard Hooker, when 
 drawing near his end. The day after he had received the blessed 
 Sacrament of the Lord's Supper for the last time, a friend calling 
 on him, found him deep in thought; and being asked the subject 
 of his meditations, he replied, " That he was meditating the num- 
 
 VOL. VI. N 
 
166 ANGELICAL ORDER AND OBEDIENCE. 
 
 ber and nature of Angels, and their blessed obedience and order, 
 •without which, peace could not be Heaven ; and oh that it might 
 be so on earth" !" 
 
 Such were that holy man's thoughts of the Kingdom of Rest and 
 Glory, to which he was so fast drawing near ; and all that we 
 read of the holy Angels seems intended, in hke manner, to make 
 us think of their perfect obedience and order. They liave each 
 their own place and station assigned, in managing the works of 
 God, or in waiting on His Church. Thus we read of the Angels 
 of certain elements : one having power over fire, and an Angel of 
 the waters, are mentioned in the Book of Revelations, and so are 
 certain other Angels, whose care was to stand at the four corners 
 of the earth, and hold the four winds of Heaven, that they might 
 not hurt the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, until the time that 
 God had appointed ®. 
 
 Again, the book of Daniel seems to tell us of Angels belonging 
 to particular countries ; of a Prince of Persia and a Prince of 
 Grecia, and of Michael the great Prince, who stands up for the 
 children of God's people''; and our blessed Saviour Himself 
 gives it as a reason, why we should be very careful to avoid 
 giving cause of sin to any of His little ones, that "in Heaven 
 their Angels do always behold the Face of My Father which is in 
 Heaven ^" " Their Angels," He says ; as if each Christian had 
 an Angel, if we may so speak, of his own ; a guardian Angel 
 especially commissioned to look after him, and help him in the 
 way of salvation. So the Church has very generally be- 
 lieved : and we read, accordingly, in to-day's lesson, that when 
 St. Peter, having been delivered from prison, knocked un- 
 expectedly at the door of a house where his friends were praying 
 for him, they thought it was his Angel. 
 
 And as the sacred Scriptures teach us, that the blessed Angels 
 have each their appointed task in the several parts of the Al- 
 mighty's Kingdom, so the order of their stations and services, 
 round the Throne itself of the great King, sets before us perfect 
 obedience and order. " The Angels stand round about the 
 Throne," not as it may happen, but every one in his place. 
 
 Thus, in the vision of Isaiah : " The Lord was seen sitting on 
 
 • Walton's Life of Hooker. ® Rev. xiv. 18 ; xvi. 5 ; vii. 1. 
 
 f Dan. X. 20, 21 ; xii. 1. « Matt, xviii. 10. 
 
ANGELICAL ORDER AND OBEDIENCE. 167 
 
 a throne, high and lifted up, and His Train," that is, His Glory, 
 " filled the Temple. Above it stood the Seraphiras, .... and 
 one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of 
 Hosts : the whole earth is full of His Glory ^" It was the Church 
 Service in perfection, exact regularity and full harmony. 
 
 And such, also, are the pictures presented to us in the high 
 and wonderful visions of St. John in the Revelations. " About 
 the Throne were four-and-twenty seats, and upon the seats I saw 
 four-and-twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment, and they 
 had on their heads crowns of gold." And, in another place : " I 
 saw the seven Angels which stood before God, and to them were 
 given seven trumpets. And another Angel came and stood at 
 the Altar, having a golden censer, and there was given unto him 
 much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints 
 upon the golden altar which was before the Throne ^." 
 
 There are many such descriptions in that holy Book, all of 
 them implying the most complete order and regularity in the 
 heavenly services, so that the course of what is done in the 
 Churches of Christ on earth, is but a faint and humble shadow 
 of what the spirits of the just made perfect may hope then to 
 witness and partake. 
 
 In the prophecy of Daniel, again, those blessed assemblies ap- 
 pear to be likened, in some sort, to the courts or judgment-seats 
 of great kings. " The Ancient of Days did sit ; ... thou- 
 sand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times 
 ten thousand stood before Him : the judgment was set, and the 
 books were opened." Now we know what reverential silence, 
 what accurate order, is expected to be observed in the courts of 
 kings, and in solemn assemblies held in their presence : and this 
 may give us some notion of the grave and awful majesty, which 
 the Saints and glorious Spirits continually maintain in His Pre- 
 sence, Who is the God of Peace and Order, not of confusion, 
 and before Whom all are commanded to keep silence. 
 
 Now this .exact order, and perfect obedience of the Angels, — 
 the station of each in God's Temple, and the task of each in His 
 Kingdom, — has reference, first, to the Glory of God ; next, to 
 the welfare and credit of His Church. " The Angels stood round 
 about the Throne, and about the four beasts and the elders." 
 9 Isaiah vi. 1—3. » Rev. iv. 4 ; viii. 2, 3. 
 
 n2 
 
168 ANGELICAL ORDER AND OBEDIENCE. 
 
 Each had his appointed place, with regard both to Him that sits 
 on the Throne, and to the twenty-four elders, and four mysterious 
 animals, who seem to be types of His Church and Gospel. So, 
 throughout the Book of God, we find this double office assigned 
 to them: thev are either "before the Throne of God, serving 
 Him day and night in His Temple," or they are on their errands 
 as " ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to them that shall 
 be heirs of salvation." Their holy, devotional hymns, and prayers, 
 and contemplations, take up all the time which is not employed in 
 charitable waiting on their brethren of mankind. But whatever 
 honour they offer to God, whatever service they do to us all, is 
 done according to His everlasting Law, in its own time, and 
 ])lace, and measure ; there is neither too much nor too little of 
 it : no encroaching by one Angel on the province of another, no 
 neglect of his own. 
 
 Now let us not imagine that this angelic order and obedience 
 is no more to us than a distant beautiful vision. Nay, it is both 
 real itself, and it closely touches the duty of every one of us. 
 Did not our Lord Himself teach us to pray, " Thy will be done 
 in earth as it is in Heaven ?" that is, that we should make the 
 Angels our pattern, and as they worship and minister, so should 
 we try to do here. God is so gracious as to set before us. His 
 fallen unworthy creatures, the same two objects which take up 
 the mind of His Angels. " Whether we eat or drink, or what- 
 soever we do," we are invited, nay, commanded, to do it all to 
 God's glory. And when we " wait on the Lord," it is to be " re- 
 newed in our wings like eagles ;" strong and active wings, to bear 
 us any whither, where is any Christian to be helped, any bad 
 spirit to be discouraged. 
 
 Next, as the Angels all know and keep their places ; — as the 
 stars do in Heaven, to which they are sometimes likened ; — as we 
 are bidden to "lift up our eyes on high, and behold Who hath 
 created these things, that bringeth out their host by number; 
 Hk calleth them all by names by the greatness of His might, for 
 that He is strong in power, not one faileth:" so should the ser- 
 vants of Christ be ready, night and morning, and at all times, 
 to answer to their names when He, as it were, calls them over, 
 and show that they are in their station, and willing and eager to 
 set about their appointed tasks. 
 
ANGELICAL ORDER AND OBEDIENCE. 169 
 
 I say, " their appointed tasks." As one blessed Spirit does 
 not force himself into the portion of another, but remains con- 
 tent where he was placed by the Heavenly Lord and Master of 
 all in common, so ought it to be in the Church and Body of 
 Christ. The sheep must not intrude itself into the portion of 
 the shepherd, nor one shepherd into that of another : each must 
 mind his own work, as each has to bear his own burthen. 
 
 Then in the performance of that work we are not to be invent- 
 ing- ways of our own, but in every thing, small and great, to 
 watch for some sign from Him : where His will is plain, as it is, 
 God be thanked, in most matters of daily duty, there cheerfully 
 and punctually conforming ourselves to it, without asking any 
 more questions ; where it is at first doubtful, seeking it as best 
 we may with prayer and meditation, out of the Scriptures inter- 
 preted by the Church. 
 
 This way of prompt yet thoughtful obedience is set before us 
 by the Psalmist, from the example of the Angels. " Praise the 
 Lord, ye Angels of His, ye that fulfil His commandment ;" — that 
 is, they do it at once when it is plain ; — " and hearken unto the 
 voice of His words ;" that is, they listen devoutly to find out His 
 will, in matters where they do not yet know it. 
 
 Again, it is a great point of true Angelical service, to take none 
 of the glory to one's self, but to ascribe all to Him. Consider the 
 Angel who showed to St. John those wonders in the end of the 
 Book of Revelations. When the holy Apostle had heard and 
 seen them, he " fell down to worship before the feet of the Angel." 
 But he said, " See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow-servant, 
 and the fellow-servant of thy brethren the Prophets, and of them 
 which keep the sayings of this Book : worship God." As this 
 is undoubtedly a caution to all Christians, not to offer to any 
 Angel, even the highest and most blessed, any portion of that 
 honour which is due to God only ; so ought we all to understand 
 by this verse the danger of taking any praise to ourselves; a 
 great, and subtle, and continual danger, which is ever winding 
 itself round us, like a poisonous plant, and spoiling the fruit of 
 what otherwise might be our good works. 
 
 To guard against it, people should always be saying, not to 
 others, but to themselves, " Not I, but the grace of God which 
 was with me." They should have rooted in their memories the 
 
170 ANGELICAL ORDER AND OBEDIENCE. 
 
 thought, how many bad and unworthy imaginations they have 
 indulged in before now, all which are known to God and written 
 in His Book. They should dwell in their minds, not on what 
 their friends actually say of them, but on what they would say of 
 them, if they could know their secret sins. This, I suppose, 
 would be one way of effectually resisting the strong temptation, 
 which many of us are continually under, to take the credit of 
 what seems good in us to ourselves. 
 
 Another good help to the same purpose, would be to be often 
 looking off from ourselves, and contemplating God's gracious 
 work in the Gospel and kingdom of His Son. And in this, too, 
 the example of the Angels may greatly help us ; for even they, 
 in their high estate, St. Peter tells us, " desire to look into " the 
 things which the Holy Ghost made known to the Church by 
 the Apostles ^. And the manifold wisdom of God is made known 
 by the Church, even " to the Principalities and Powers in Hea- 
 venly Places '." When therefore we look away from ourselves 
 for a while, and let our thoughts follow the guidance of the Church, 
 especially on her great and holy days, in meditating on heavenly 
 mysteries, we may have the satisfaction of thinking that we are 
 far from being alone. The Angels which stand round about the 
 Throne are, we know, employed as we are. We are permitted for 
 the time to have some small insight into those deeps of glory 
 and wonder, which they, seeing God as they do with open face, 
 yet desire to look into. This is the blessing offered us, if we would 
 open our hearts to it, when we are invited to join in solemn 
 Church services, more especially of thanksgiving, or to exercise 
 ourselves at home in devout reading and meditation. 
 
 Further : the Angels, when at God's command they employ 
 themselves in ministering to His Church, are filled with heavenly 
 earnestness, and eager desire that His will should be done in all 
 things. If they look towards His enemies, and see Him affronted, 
 His holy Name profaned. His servants vexed. His Word contra- 
 dicted, and His Law disobeyed, such sights fill them with a holy 
 zeal and indignation. According to the Ei)istle of the day, there is 
 at such times "war in Heaven :" the Powers of Light and Dark- 
 ness are set one against another, "Michael and his Angels fight- 
 ing against the Dragon, and the Dragon fighting and his Angels." 
 » 1 Peter i. 12. 3 Ej,],. jji. lo. 
 
ANGELICAL ORDER AND OBEDIENCE. 171 
 
 And one may see by the manner of those holy warriors, as it is 
 described in different parts of the Bible, how earnestly they enter 
 into their warfare, like true and loyal soldiers, jealous of their 
 King's honour, and not enduring to see Him disrespectfully used. 
 
 So the Angel which met Balaam speaks, as if what he did was 
 all his own doing. " I came out to withstand thee, because thy 
 way is perverse before me. If the ass had not turned aside, surely 
 now I had killed thee, and saved her alive *." 
 
 So, in the Book of Judges, the Angel of the Lord calls down 
 a bitter curse on a certain place, because the inhabitants thereof 
 " came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord 
 against the mighty'." 
 
 But this their zeal is ever chastened by a deep and grave 
 sense of duty and obedience, of the presence of God, and the 
 order and beauty of His Kingdom : so that, whereas men think, 
 if they have but a good cause, they may let their tongues loose to 
 high degrees of bitterness, " Michael the Archangel," we are 
 told, when he was " contending with the Devil " himself, " durst 
 not bring against him a railing accusation," but referred the 
 matter to the judgment of God, saying simply, "The Lord 
 rebuke thee®." 
 
 i will mention but one point more of the Angels' faithful and 
 orderly service ; their deep and most affectionate concern for the 
 little ones of Jesus Christ ; rejoicing in their repentance when 
 they have gone astray, and very much displeased with those who 
 in any way cause them to stumble and transgress. Such must be 
 our concern for one another, if we would at all fulfil our daily 
 prayer, and do our part of God's will on earth as the holy Angels 
 do theirs in Heaven. We belong to a great company, which 
 Almighty God has vouchsafed to gather around His Jhrone to 
 serve Him, and which He has encompassed on every side with 
 the guard of His holy Angels, If we would fulfil our part in that 
 heavenly assembly, these are the two cautions we must observe. 
 We must do all to the glory of God, yet so as to have an eye 
 always to the good of our brethren, and to avoid causing them to 
 stumble. We must do all to the good of our brethren, yet so as 
 to have an eye throughout to God's glory, and to the order which 
 He has established. 
 
 « Numb. xxii. 32, 33. ' Judges v. 23. « St. Jude 9. 
 
SERMON CLXXXVII. 
 
 THE COMPANION OF THE SAINTS. 
 
 FOR ST. LUKES DAY. 
 
 Psalm cxix. 63. 
 
 " I am a companion of all them that fear Thee, and keep Thy 
 commandments." 
 
 The Epistle for this day instructs us to think of the Evangelist 
 St. Luke as the companion of the Apostle St. Paul, and that more 
 especially when he was very near his end. Being in prison, and 
 expecting before long to be martyred for his Lord's sake, St. Paul 
 writes to Timothy to come to him, saying, that he would be quite 
 left alone if it were not for one true friend ; and that friend was 
 St. Luke. " Only Luke," he says, " is with me." 
 
 It was no new thing for St. Luke to be with St. Paul. The 
 Acts of the Apostles show that he had been his companion in 
 many and great dangers, before his first imprisonment in Rome ; 
 for he continually says, " We came to such a place," " We kneeled 
 down and prayed," " We all got safe to land," and other such 
 expressions ; by which a diligent reader may very well make out 
 where he first joined the Apostle, and how long he continued 
 with him. 
 
 And again, if we look into those Epistles, which we know were 
 written by St. Paul when he was first imprisoned in Rome, we 
 find that St. Luke was still with him ; for he sends greeting from 
 St. Luke to Philemon, and to others at a distance. 
 
 And here we find them still together in St. Paul's second im- 
 
THE COMPANION OF THE SAINTS. 173 
 
 prisonment, and as near his death as the New Testament history 
 gives any account of him. 
 
 Now undoubtedly this, to the eye of faith, was a very great 
 privilege given by the Almighty to the holy Evangelist St. Luke. 
 Even a careless, unthinking person, if he be not quite an unbe- 
 liever, will perceive and acknowledge that so it is. We are all 
 quite ready to say, " Truly, it must have been a blessed thing to 
 be present at the last hours of such a person as St. Paul ; to be 
 with him in prison ; to hear his high and noble thoughts, as the 
 Holy Spirit opened to him more and more the true meaning of 
 the Scriptures of God ; to pray with him night and morning ; to 
 listen to his instructions ; to partake with him in the Church 
 services, and especially in the Holy Communion ; and, perhaps, 
 to be by him in the very moment of his martyrdom, when he was 
 beheaded for the sake of Jesus Christ." 
 
 There is not one of us but feels, when he really thinks of this, 
 that it was a great and blessed thing to be the companion of such 
 a man ; and, perhaps some of us may imagine that it would have 
 made all the difference to themselves, if God had cast their lot in 
 such company. If we had been with such persons as St. Paul, 
 especially in their dying hours, we are apt to fancy we should 
 never have forgotten such instructions and such an example. 
 
 But let us not be too sure. The company and example of the 
 Saints of God, like all other spiritual and heavenly privileges, 
 takes effect upon men according as they are prepared by their 
 own former conduct, and disposed in their own hearts. The 
 company and example of our Blessed Lord Himself, we know, 
 did not amend nor save Judas, because he brought to it a perverse 
 and covetous heart, and refused to be the better for it. Yet I 
 suppose even Judas himself, had he heard at a distance of such a 
 person as Christ, at least of some parts of what He said and 
 did — even Judas, I say, would have admired Him, and thought it 
 good to be with Him. And so it may be in the case of the Saints 
 of Christ, living and dead. Many men may be touched with 
 what they read or hear of them, and may seem to themselves as 
 if they longed to be with them, who, if they really were brought 
 into their company, would very soon be tired and disgusted, and 
 long to be away from them. Many may have engaging dreams 
 (if one may so call them) of St. Paul in prison, who would never 
 
174) THE COMPANION OF THE SAINTS. 
 
 have profited as St. Luke did, by being companion of the blessed 
 Apostle. 
 
 For let us consider the case more nearly. . Here is a person, 
 poor, despised, of weak bodily presence and contemptible speech, 
 shut up in a prison, from which he has no earthly hope of escape, 
 and out of which he is daily expecting to be led to a cruel death : 
 and it will be a shameful death too, for he will be punished as a 
 criminal, and most part of the people will insult him, believing 
 him guilty. What is there in this to tempt or delight any one, 
 except it were one who had a faith like the faith of St. Paul him- 
 self; such a faith as could look through all this cloud of troubles 
 to the glorious end, the crown of righteousness ? 
 
 Again, what if the Apostle spake, almost as never man spake, 
 about the love of God to His people, and the things prepared for 
 them that love Him ? All this would fall dead and useless on the 
 ears of men, taken up hitherto with the diversions, end business, 
 and imaginations of this present evil world. To associate with 
 him from morning to night, and hear his good and holy sayings, 
 and observe the Christian use he would make of all things, would 
 be but flat and wearisome work to a mind taken up with the love 
 of this world ; a mind selfish and impatient, sensual and greedy. 
 
 To take an instance which every one can understand : — How 
 would a mere ordinary person, a child of this world, used always 
 to indulge himself, — how would such an one like to be with the 
 Apostle on his fasting days ? We know that he did keep fasts ; 
 that he restrained his body and brought it into subjection : he 
 denied himself in many things, which the generality of men, even 
 such as were called respectable, took freely, as of course. In 
 such respects his company could not be very agreeable to them, 
 however much they may have admired him on other accounts, 
 when they heard of him at a distance. 
 
 But St. Luke had been long used to delight in the same things 
 as St. Paul. He had been, as one may say, in training for this life 
 of imprisonment and self-denial. When he first joined himself to 
 St. Paul, he knew that he should have to sufi'er affliction, and it 
 came on him very soon ; for the very next place they preached 
 in, we read of St. Paul and Silas being scourged and imprisoned, 
 and delivered only by a miracle. Thus he was used to danger, 
 pain, and shame : he had his soul, as the Psalmist says, " always 
 
THE COMPANION OF THE SAINTS. 175 
 
 in his hand ;" that is, he felt continually how very uncertain his life 
 was ; he knew he could not count on it for a moment, nor yet on 
 any of the comforts which make life tolerable ; and thus he was 
 well prepared to attend the Teacher, whom he had so long loved, 
 both in prison and to death. 
 
 But if his life had been, from the beginning, a life of ease and 
 self-satisfaction, how different would it all have seemed! Even if 
 his love for his friend had caused him to wait dihgently on him, 
 yet he could not have done it so effectually. His devout and affec- 
 tionate purposes would have been continually more or less inter- 
 rupted with thoughts of his own uneasiness. He would have 
 missed very much of St. Paul's good example, and of his holy 
 and instructive words, from being so greatly taken up with him- 
 self. And much of what he did see and hear, he would not have at 
 all understood, the Christian ways being altogether new to him. 
 
 For we may depend upon it, that as it is a hard thing to enter 
 into the meaning of the Scriptures or of the Church, or what is 
 called in the Bible " the mind of Christ," so it is no easy matter 
 to understand and value the behaviour of any of Christ's Saints, 
 in such measure as they really come up to the name. There will 
 always be things in every good man's conduct, which will seem 
 strange, and harsh, and unaccountable, to those who are below 
 him in goodness. He will often keep silence where they would 
 expect him to speak ; he will be grave where they look for encou- 
 ragement from him ; composed and calm about matters, in which 
 they think it impossible to be too eager ; and he will very often 
 see deep meanings, and act accordingly, on occasions which they 
 would turn from as merely trifling. In short, it must require a 
 good deal of Christian practice, to enable a man to enter into the 
 spirit of any one who is worthy to be followed, and really to make 
 the most of his example. 
 
 St. Luke seems to have been a pattern of this. His whole 
 manner of writing proves, that he answered well to David's 
 description of a good Churchman, one worthy to abide in Gou's 
 Tabernacle, as in other respects, so in this : that he " made much 
 of them that fear the Lord '." That, no doubt, was what he looked 
 to : he did not seek after amusing companions, nor such as would bet- 
 ter his condition, or advance his credit and consequence in the world. 
 
 ^ Psalm XV. 4. 
 
176 THE COMPANION OF THE SAINTS. 
 
 Nor, even among Christians, did he seek to be with eloquent or 
 learned persons, or persons called wise, or much followed by the 
 people. But the one thing which he sought was this, — a heart 
 set upon fearing God, and a life spent in keeping His command- 
 ments. Where he found that, to such an one he was presently 
 ready to become a companion. 
 
 Or, as it is in another Psalm, " All his delight " was " in the 
 Saints that are in the earth, and in such as excel in virtue." 
 Those are very sacred words, for they are spoken in the name of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ himself. And they show plainly what 
 sort of company we must keep, if we would be minded like 
 Christ, and approved by Him. We must not look on things 
 after the outward appearance ; we must not be carried away with 
 beauty, or strength, or skill, or what is called cleverness,' or with 
 learning, or with mirth and amusing ways, or with any such 
 thing: we must always stop and ask ourselves, " Does this man 
 fear God ? Does he keep His commandments ?" before we choose 
 any to be our friend. 
 
 And, on the other hand, when we clearly see that any one is 
 truly devout in his life and conversation, a lover of God and good 
 men, a humble and watchful servant of Christ, and an obedient 
 member of His Holy Catholic Church, we ought not to draw back 
 from him on account of any outward disadvantages, or for any of 
 the thousand fanciful reasons which, as weak vain mortals, we are 
 apt to be so much governed by. St. Luke did not so withdraw 
 himself from the great Apostle, because " his bodily presence was 
 weak, and his speech contemptible." He was superior to such 
 childish unworthy feelings. 
 
 And this is the more remarkable, as it seems from St. Luke's 
 writings, and from what is told concerning him, that he was a 
 person of more education, — higher breeding, as it is called, — than 
 the holy writers were in general. No doubt he was a judge of 
 good speaking, fine writing, and other such matters, and of what 
 is beautiful and otherwise. There was a tradition among the 
 ancient Christians, that he was a painter of no small skill. But 
 none of these things moved him, neither outward beauty, nor 
 ready speech, nor worldly wisdom and accomplishments ; but he 
 chose to be with St. Paul, because he saw that St. Paul was chief 
 among those who feared Gou and kept His commandments. It 
 
THE COMPANION OF THE SAINTS. 177 
 
 was not for his own pleasure, or credit, or consequence, that he 
 joined himself to the Apostle, but for the salvation of his soul ; 
 and therefore he did not look to those things in his friend, 
 which the world might take notice of and admire, but to his bright 
 and pure example, and to the grace of God which was in him. 
 
 And having made his choice, he kept constantly to it. Others 
 fell away from St. Paul's company, when times grew bad, and 
 death seemed to draw near. Demas forsook him, as thinking 
 himself well off in this present world ; and not only Demas, but 
 many others : for he writes, that when he first appeared on his 
 trial before Caesar, no man stood by him, but all forsook him. 
 " Only Luke," he says, " is with me." 
 
 Thus we see how constant that friendship is, which is founded 
 on the fear of God, and keeping His commandments. It fails not, 
 for it is builded on a rock, and that rock is Christ ; Christ, in 
 whom such friends are firmly knit together, as members of the 
 same body, and cannot, therefore, fail to have the same care one 
 of another. 
 
 But again, we see that the Evangelist was not content with 
 merely admiring, and loving, and following the Apostle, but that 
 he also employed himself in many things, which did great service 
 to the Church. He wrote that precious Gospel, which was and 
 is his praise in all the Churches. He was sent by St. Paul on 
 errands of charity, being chosen to go a long journey, in charge 
 of a sum which had been collected for the Saints at Jerusalem. 
 And as St. Paul calls him in one place " the beloved physician," 
 so we may well believe, that the experience he had in his first 
 profession helped him much in that charitable waiting, both on 
 the souls and bodies of men, which belonged to him in his second 
 and higher office of evangelist and physician of the soul. 
 
 I will mention one more circumstance in St. Luke's character, 
 which particularly qualified him to be a companion of good and 
 holy men, namely, the delight which he plainly took in watching 
 and remembering their exemplary ways; making much of them, 
 and setting them down, that they might not pass away as in 
 a dream ; and again, in observing and noting down the wonder- 
 ful turns and order of God's Providence, in regard of them and 
 of His whole Church. 
 
 Being so minded, the Almighty chose out St. Luke from 
 
178 THE COMPANION OF THE SAINTS. 
 
 among all the Disciples, to write the Church Histor}', from the 
 birth of St. John Baptist to the imprisonment of St. Paul in 
 Rome. This was a glorious privilege indeed, for one whose 
 delight was in the Saints, or, rather, in the Lokd Jesus, both in 
 Himself, and as manifested in His Saints. And surely it is a 
 great encouragement also, to all such as humbly and obediently 
 apply themselves to watching and copying the examples of holy 
 men departed ; seeking praise, not for themselves, but for them, 
 and for the God who sanctified them. 
 
 We have seen the high privileges of the Evangelist St. Luke, 
 and how he was trained and prepared for them, and made much 
 of them. It is a matter to be much considered, and laid to heart 
 by every one of us. For certainly, whether we consider it or no, 
 we are sharers, to a great degree, in those divine favours which 
 St. Luke enjoyed ; and if we are not trying to make the same use 
 of them as he did, if we are not greatly the better for them, we 
 must be greatly the worse. 
 
 All of us, I say, are partakers in St. Luke's privileges ; I mean 
 in the spiritual advantages he enjoyed as a companion of the 
 fervent Apostle St. Paul. For we, too, are in a measure compa- 
 nions of St. Paul ; we are made acquainted with him by his sacred 
 writings, and by St. Luke's own history of him : we read and 
 hear of him a great deal, both in school and in Church. Now, 
 what is St. Paul to us } Why did God's Providence take order 
 that we should so often be brought to remembrance of him, 
 except because it was His will that we should follow St. Paul's 
 example ? Are we, generally, trying to follow it.'' 
 
 Again, most of us know some one or more friends,- whom we 
 believe, without any question, to be sericus in God's service, try- 
 ing to do all their duty. We have, perhaps, all of us, more or 
 less, opportunities of intercourse with such persons. Let us 
 understand that those opportunities are so many favours and 
 privileges from God Almighty ; they are talents, of which we 
 must give account ; if abused or hidden, they will add to the 
 weight which will sink us down irrevocably in the day of judg- 
 ment. 
 
 Why is it that people do not consider this more .'' why ore 
 many of us so little the better for the goodness of those among 
 whom we live ? 
 
THE COMPANION OF THE SAINTS. 179 
 
 One reason is, I suppose, that we have not generally chosen 
 our companions for being good, and holy, and devout. If we 
 have lived among such, it was God's mercy that brought us near 
 them, it was not at all our own doing. As for us, when we could 
 choose, we became, like the heathen, " vain in our imagina- 
 tions ;" our foolish hearts chose out to be our friends showy, 
 pleasant people, or people of consequence in the world ; if they 
 chanced also to be religious people, no thanks to us for it ; and 
 no wonder, therefore, if we were little the better for their friend- 
 ship. Plainly, then, for the time to come, our duty is, when we 
 have a choice, to join ourselves to none but such as really fear 
 God. If we thus watch for heavenly goodness, and go out of 
 our way to seek it, we shall, of course, deal reverently with it 
 when we find it, and God in His mercy will give us a portion 
 in it. 
 
 Next let us take care, that being their companions, we do not 
 abuse their kindness to any worldly purpose whatsoever ; any 
 more than St. Luke made use of his friendship with St. Paul to 
 increase his own influence in the Church. This will leave our 
 minds free to receive all the good, which He, by such companions, 
 intended us. 
 
 And let us be very doubtful of our own constancy, very much 
 afraid what might happen, if at any time our friendship with 
 them called on us to deny ourselves severely. St. Paul had a 
 Demas among his companions, who forsook him when danger 
 came on : and who knows what our case might be, if tribulation 
 and persecution arose for our Lord's sake ? It is one thing to be 
 with good men, and enjoy their sweetness and kindness, and 
 admire their noble thoughts and Christian wisdom, when all 
 seems quiet and easy around ; and it is quite another thing to 
 stand by them, and cleave to their good ways, when it brings 
 reproach and self-denial, poverty, and pain, and toil, and perhaps 
 even danger. 
 
 To prepare us, therefore, for such severer trials, let us be very 
 attentive to the ways in which they are preparing themselves. 
 Let us carefully notice how they use silently to prefer other 
 persons' pleasure and profit to their own ; how they give up their 
 own opinions, submit to affronts, refuse to have their own ways : 
 and let us be sure that what they do in secret in thus inwardly 
 
180 THE COMPANION OF THE SAINTS. 
 
 disciplining themselves, is a great deal more than what they do 
 in our sight. God Almighty sees in them very many self- 
 denials and restraints, which none of us can know any thing of. 
 
 We are too much used to say, " I love and admire such an 
 one, and I wish I could be like him ; but I cannot, it is not in my 
 nature." The true way is to say little about them, but to think 
 and pray a great deal ; and to copy, as we may in little things, 
 their humble and holy ways, that the world may not prevail 
 against us, and separate us from them, when great occasions 
 arise. 
 
 One thing more : we must be on our guard, that we sin not, 
 before we are aware, in idolizing these, the earthly members of 
 our Lord ; thinking on them, and depending on them, when all 
 our thoughts and trusts ought to mount up to Him, Who is their 
 Head and ours. Our knowledge of holy men, living and dead, 
 should ever lead us back to Jesus Christ, such as He manifested 
 Himself on earth ; even as St. Luke's intimacy with St. Paul 
 qualified him to write his Gospel. Let it be our labour in this 
 world to please Him by following His Saints, and it shall be our 
 joy and crown of rejoicing, in His Presence, at His coming. 
 
SERMON CLXXXVIIL 
 
 INWARD MANIFESTATION OF CHRIST. 
 
 FOR ST. SIMON AND ST. JUDB. 
 
 John xiv. 22. 
 
 " Judas saith unto Him, (not Iscariot,) Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest 
 Thyself unto us, and not unto the world ?" 
 
 This verse contains one of the very few notices found in the 
 Gospels, of St. Jude, one of the Saints of this day, and author of 
 the short epistle, part of which you have just heard. Of St. 
 Simon, the other Saint of the day, nothing at all is told us in the 
 New Testament ; only his name appears in the lists of the 
 Apostles, with an addition, Simon the Canaanite, or Simon 
 Zelotes ; so called, because he was in some sense or other re- 
 markable for his zeal and earnestness in the cause of Almightt 
 God. 
 
 It is, and so most likely it will be to the end, a great secret, why 
 so little is known of these and others of our Lord's favoured 
 Apostles. Their names, indeed, are preserved to us, but, in 
 other respects, they seem almost to have perished as though they 
 had never been. 
 
 I say, they seem, — for, in fact, we know not how much we owe 
 to them ; — how much of the treasure of holy knowledge and good 
 example, which the Church is gathering for her children, age 
 after age, came, in the first place, under the Holy Ghost, from 
 some of those whose names are so nearly forgotten. To show 
 
 VOL. VI. o 
 
182 INWARD MANIFESTATION OF CHRIST. 
 
 •what I mean : suppose St. Jude's question, in the text, had not 
 been set down in the Gospel, but only our Lord's answer, in the 
 next verse, it would still have been equally true that St. Jude 
 gave occasion to that gracious answer, though we should not 
 have known that we are at all indebted to him for it. 
 
 Besides, we cannot tell in what thousands of mysterious ways 
 those holy men may have done us good, or may be doing it even 
 now ; — us, or our friends, or the whole Church of God. The 
 Members of that holy Church, living and dead, are so wonderfully 
 linked together, and do in such measure rejoice and sorrow one 
 with another, that we never may dare to believe ourselves uncon- 
 nected with any believer in Christ, past, present, or to come : 
 nor shall we know, till the last great day, whom we are to thank 
 as instruments of God's saving mercies. 
 
 This seems to make it the more inexcusable, if we do not 
 thankfully apply ourselves to consider the few scattered accounts, 
 which yet remain, of the holy sayings and doings of those favoured 
 men : as, for example, this of St. Jude, in the text. "What was 
 the occasion and purpose of the question which he here puts to 
 our Lord ? and what may we learn of it, which, by God's 
 blessing, may sink deep into our hearts, and do us good for 
 ever? 
 
 Our Lord, in His last comfortable discourse, had just been 
 warning His holy Apostles, that His going away, contrary to out- 
 ward appearance, would be the greatest of blessings for them. " Yet 
 a little while," He said, " and the world seeth Me no more : but 
 ye see Me. Because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye 
 shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you. 
 He that hath My Commandments, and keepeth them, he it is 
 that loveth Me : and he that loveth Me shall be loved of 
 My Father, and I will love him, and manifest Myself unto 
 him." 
 
 Such was our Saviour's gracious promise : giving them to 
 understand, that in some high and wonderful way, they. His 
 chosen friends, would be the better and happier even for His 
 departing out of their sight ; that the farther He should be from 
 them, in a worldly sense, the nearer they would find Him in a 
 spiritual sense. No doubt it caused them to muse very deeply, 
 what this departure might be, and why it should be necessary. 
 
INWARD MANIFESTATION OF CHRIST. 183 
 
 Their weak hearts, it may be, revolted from the change which His 
 Words seem to foretel, with a sort of indistinct feeUng, tliat, 
 however blessed that change might be, they would, at the bottom, 
 be well content to let things alone, — to remain in outward and 
 visible society with Him. 
 
 It might be something of the same sort of feeling, with which 
 even good men, generally speaking, appear to receive intimation 
 of their own approaching death, or of the death of some dear 
 friend. They doubt not of the mercies which God has in store, 
 but over them, as yet, there hangs a cloud, and they would be 
 thankful, could they be sure of it, to remain a while longer as 
 they are. 
 
 Thus, when St. Jude said to our Lord, " How is it that Thou 
 wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world ?" we 
 may, perhaps, understand him to mean, " What need of this 
 change, which Thy words seem to signify ? Why remove this. 
 Thy bodily Presence, from us, of which the world can take 
 notice ? we know not how to be happy without it." 
 
 If we so understand the Apostle's words, we shall see that our 
 Lord's answer completely satisfies his doubt. " If a man love 
 Me, he will keep My words : and My Father will love him, and 
 We will come unto him, and make our abode with him." It is 
 the great privilege of Christians, whereof He speaks : that 
 He, though absent in sight, is yet, in deed, more immediately 
 present with His Saints, than if He had remained in their sight : 
 coming with His Father to dwell in their hearts and bodies, 
 by the wonderful working of His holy and almighty Spirit. 
 
 St. Jude, then, and the rest of the Apostles, were not to be 
 cast down at His departing out of their sight ; they were to rest 
 assured, that by Faith He would be nearer them than ever. 
 And not to them only, but to all Christian people ; — all who have 
 not forfeited the blessing given them in their Baptism. For He 
 says not, " If you. My own Apostles, love Me, and keep My 
 Words ;" but, " If any man love Me, and keep My Words." All 
 Christians, all members of Christ, have this wonderful Promise 
 and Gift, — the Father and the Son coming to them, and making 
 their abode with them. 
 
 This gracious assurance St. Jude obtained, for himself and for 
 
 o 2 
 
184 INWARD MANIFESTATION OF CHRIST. 
 
 US all, by inquiring of our Lord, in faith and affection, why it 
 was necessary that Hk should go out of sight, and manifest 
 Himself hereafter to His Apostles only, not to the world. 
 
 Now it is very much to be observed, in what manner and order 
 our Lord teaches us to seek from Him this greatest of blessings, 
 the abiding presence of the Most Holy Trinity, to Whom we have 
 been joined in our Baptism. He does not say, " If a man knows 
 the Gospel thoroughly, and can give a good account of it in 
 words ;" nor, again, does He say, " If his feelings be very strong 
 about his own unworthiness, and the power of the Blood of 
 Christ, then this heavenly communion will be hie ;" but He 
 says, " If he love Me, he will keep My Words," and so the bless- 
 ing will come to him. He will not feel it, nor know it, except by 
 his obedience : just as our bodily life is felt and known, only by 
 our doing the deeds of a living man. 
 
 This seems to show how we ought to deal with ourselves, in 
 regard to all the great things and wonderful secrets of the King- 
 dom of Heaven. They were none of them intended to be secrets 
 for ever: on the contrary, our Saviour Himself says of them, 
 " There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed ; neither is 
 any thing kept secret, but that it should be known and come 
 abroad." Not, however, all at once, nor any how, nor to all sorts 
 of persons, but in due order, manner, and time, and to those who 
 are fitly prepared. 
 
 Do we, then, desire to know, as St. Jude did, why or how our 
 Lord and Saviour manifests Himself to His Church, and not to 
 the world ? We must take that method of study which He Him- 
 self has pointed out to us : we must practise ourselves, night 
 and day, in loving Him and keeping His Commandments : then 
 the blessing itself will be always with us, and the knowledge 
 and understanding of the blessing will follow in due time. 
 
 For example : we wish perhaps to know and understand, what 
 that great thing is, which the Church continually offers to us in 
 the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Altar : and some of us, per- 
 haps, are uneasy about going in ignorance, and think it would be 
 more their duty to go, and the blessing would be greater, if they 
 understood it all more clearly. But this might or might not be 
 so : for the blessing does not, in the least degree, depend on the 
 
INWARD MANIFESTATION OF CHRIST. 185 
 
 clearness of our understanding, but on our coming with an 
 honest and good heart, and with very deep and earnest religious 
 fear. 
 
 Again, we hear and read wonderful things of Holy Baptism, 
 and would like to know more of it ; would like to be instructed, 
 how it should make so great difference in the condition of a little 
 infant, and turn him from a child of wrath to a child of grace. 
 Well, there is but one way of knowing : watch, pray, strive con- 
 tinually to keep the promise and vow which you then made, and 
 God will, by and by, open your eyes, to see the great work which 
 the Holy Ghost has been working in you, more plainly than 
 ever the children of Israel saw the pillar of fire and of the cloud 
 guiding them safely out of Egypt. I say, by and by, that is, in 
 the other world ; in the day wherein the Son of Man, and all 
 His gracious dealings with us, shall be revealed. For it should 
 seem, that until then we cannot be made holy enough to receive 
 this high and heavenly knowledge : and when that day comes, 
 the knowledge God will give us will not be the same to all, but 
 measured out to each person, in proportion to nothing else but 
 to his love of Christ, and zeal in keeping His Words. 
 
 Whichever way, therefore, we look at the matter, all comes 
 back to the same thing, that is, holy and Christian obedience. 
 That is the mind, to which Christ will manifest Himself, and not 
 at all to the world, — not at all to those who continue in unfaith- 
 fulness and sin, and less and less to those, who having been 
 once near Him, (as in our childhood we all were,) are falling 
 away into an impenitent state. For, as the Evil One " goes about 
 continually, seeking whom he may devour," so, and much more, 
 does our Lord and Saviour go about continually, seeking whom 
 He may save. Hear His own gracious words : "Behold, I stand 
 at the door and knock : if any man hear My voice, and open the 
 door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with Me :" 
 that is, " if he love Me and keep My words, there will be secret 
 heavenly communion going on between him and Me," beyond 
 what words can express, or thought of man's heart understand in 
 this world. 
 
 Let no person, then, be out of heart, because he is poor, weak, 
 and ignorant, and hears great things when he comes here, wliich 
 he cannot go along with or understand. Let him but go steadily 
 
186 INWARD MANIFESTATION OF CHRIST. 
 
 on, loving Christ, and keeping His word, and he is in a sure way 
 to know the meaning of all, in a happy experience, for ever. 
 
 But there is another part of this subject which must also be 
 very much thought of. What if any person, having been made 
 partaker of the Unspeakable Gift, fall away afterwards, and leave 
 off loving Christ, and keeping His Wcrd : what is to become of 
 him ? Surely, the contrary of the blessing promised to the obe- 
 dient. As our Lord promises to the obedient His Father's love, 
 and that "the Father and the Son will come unto him, and 
 make their abode with him ;" so we must understand Him to tell 
 the disobedient, that he will be hated of the Father, and the 
 Father and the Son will depart from him and leave him to 
 himself. And if the heavenly Inhabitant depart, the Evil Spirit 
 will return and dwell there again, with " seven other spirits more 
 wicked than himself; and the last state of that man will be worse 
 than the first." 
 
 I say, this must be very much thought of, because we all, having 
 by Baptism been made members of Jesus Christ, are in danger of 
 bringing on ourselves this worst of evils. We shall certainly do 
 so, if we do not go on humbly and constantly loving and obeying 
 Him in all things. It is not our once or twice having had good 
 impressions, and seeming to ourselves to close heartily with the 
 gracious offers and holy commandments of the Lord ; it is not 
 this which will save us, but watchfulness, and constancy, and 
 humility. To judge of the greatness of our danger, consider this 
 which follows. St. Jude, the Apostle, in answer to whose ques- 
 tion these gracious promises were made, afterwards, as you know, 
 wrote an Epistle : one of those portions of the New Testament, 
 which are supposed to have been written latest, and when there 
 had been sad experience of Christians forgetting their holy vows, 
 forfeiting God's grace, and falling away for ever. Now through- 
 out this short Epistle we find him most earnestly pressing on us, 
 in many and various ways, this one thought : What a thing it 
 must be for a Christian, one brought so very very near to God, to 
 lose himself after all, or be cast away ! As the words declaring 
 the Unspeakable Gift had doubtless sunk deeply into his heart, 
 when he first heard them pronounced, so he had a deeper sense 
 than others of the unspeakable misery of forfeiting that gift. The 
 Israelites in the wilderness, Sodom and Gomorrah, Cain, Balaam, 
 
INWARD MANIFESTATION OF CHRIST. 187 
 
 Korah, and more especially the fallen Angels, are mentioned by 
 him as types and examples, to show us what is thought in Heaven 
 of wicked Christians, of disobedient lustful men, who have been 
 joined to our Lord. It is as if he could not find histories or 
 parables dreadful enough to express the greatness of such men's 
 fault, or the horrible punishment which must ensue. 
 
 Now when we compare this awful tone of his Epistle with the 
 exceeding mercy and condescension of the promise made to him, 
 ought it not to instruct us to fear God more, in proportion as Hb 
 is more merciful to us ? The world, to which Christ hath not 
 manifested Himself, lieth, we know, in wickedness, and will 
 perish for ever ; how much more we, to whom He hath come, in 
 whom He vouchsafes to abide, if we go on " feeding ourselves 
 without fear," receiving His tokens without keeping His words ! 
 
SERMON CLXXXIX. 
 
 PRAISE TO GOD FROM ALL SAINTS. 
 
 FOR ALL SAINTS DAY. 
 
 Revelation xix. 5. 
 
 " And a voice came out of the Throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye His 
 servants, and ye that fear Him, both small and great." 
 
 Consider what God is ; how infinitely above the highest Angels ; 
 the only Fountain of goodness, and life, and immortality, and 
 whatsoever is blessed and glorious, either in Heaven or in earth. 
 Consider again what we are ; mortal, sinful, unworthy creatures ; 
 such, that in His infallible Word the title man seems to be taken, 
 over and over again, as a sort of proverbial expression, for whatever 
 is weakest and most worthless. Does it not almost seem, as if we 
 might well be afraid to praise Him ? As if it were a presump- 
 tuous, irreverent thing, so much as to take His Name within our 
 lips, or to make mention of Him at all ? Even as it would be a 
 kind of improper liberty, for a criminal, in hopes of being par- 
 doned beyond his deserts, to begin praising and commending the 
 Judge, as though it were his place to pass any kind of sentence 
 upon his superior ? 
 
 But Almighty God, by His infinite condescension in Holy 
 Scripture, encourages us not to keep silence. He declares Him- 
 self ready to accept our praise and thanksgiving, as a sacrifice of 
 a freewill offering. Nay, and He has graciously provided against 
 our many misgivings in this matter, giving us one whole book of 
 Scripture — the Book of Psalms — as a pattern and example of the 
 
PRAISE TO GOD FROM ALL SAINTS. 189 
 
 thoughts which Christians should have in their hearts, and the 
 words which they should hear on their lips, when they come to 
 praise Him. 
 
 Here also in the text, we find His approbation yielded, in a 
 very remarkable manner, to the duty and blessing of praising 
 Him, as it has been understood and practised from the beginning 
 by all Saints. In the course of St. John's wonderful vision, when 
 the final glory and victory of Christ and His Church began to 
 draw near ; when great Babylon, the power of this world, and 
 the bitter enemy of the Church, was on the very point of falling ; 
 then " a Voice came out of the Throne, saying. Praise our God, 
 all ye His servants, and ye that fear Him, both small and great." 
 What Voice was that ? It was the Voice of God, for it came 
 out of the Throne ; out of the unapproachable glory, where none 
 but God was. 
 
 It was the Voice of the Lamb of God, of Him who is set down 
 in glory on His Father's right hand, having been slain, and 
 redeemed us to God by His Blood. We know it is His Voice, 
 from the manner in which He speaks: " Praise our God, all ye 
 His servants ;" not your God only, but our God : for so He most 
 graciously instructed us all to join ourselves in a manner to 
 Him, whenever in our thoughts we present ourselves before the 
 Almighty Father of all. " I ascend," He said, " unto My 
 Father and your Father, and unto My God and your God." In 
 like manner, here at the very end of the New Testament, He 
 speaks from His everlasting Throne to the whole Church, now 
 represented as triumphing over her enemies, and makes Himself 
 One, in the work of praising God, not with His Apostles only, 
 to whom the message came after His Resurrection, but also with 
 all God's servants, and all who fear Him, of all sorts and degrees, 
 " both small and great." 
 
 The occasion, indeed, on which in vision these words were 
 spoken in the Prophet's hearing, has not yet taken place. The 
 fall of Babylon, the overthrow of the power of this wicked world, 
 may, for aught we know, be yet at a distance. But it is sure, 
 by the word of Prophecy ; and the Church by Faith looks forward 
 to it day by day. And this day of All Saints, coming yearly, 
 is one token and exercise of her Faith. 
 
 As often as the day comes, it reminds Christ's faithful people, 
 
190 PRAISE TO GOD FROM ALL SAINTS. 
 
 that "we are so much nearer the end and crown of our hard 
 warfare against the kingdom and power of the evil one : so much 
 nearer that day, when those who now surround us unseen, and 
 wish and pray for us at a distance, shall be openly revealed to our 
 bodily eyes, " at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all 
 His Saints." 
 
 Then shall our Saviour cause us to understand the mystery of 
 His Communion with His Saints, as in their warfare and suflfer- 
 ings, so in their glorifying and praising God for their victory and 
 deliverance. But as yet we see not, nor understand, but only 
 believe. 
 
 And not only on this day, but as often as we praise God in 
 the solemn services of His Church, we do in a manner rehearse 
 and practise the mystery of this invitation of the Lord to His 
 servants. Every time we come here, we answer, according to 
 our poor weak measure, the call from the " everlasting Throne, 
 Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear Him, both 
 small and great." 
 
 First, you cannot well, any of you, be ignorant, that one great 
 business of the Church Service is, "to render thanks for the 
 great benefits which we have received at God's Hand," and " to 
 set forth His most worthy praise." The Confession, Absolution, 
 and Lord's Prayer, may be regarded as making up a kind of 
 private introductory service. The very first thing, therefore, in 
 the public service, properly so called, is for the Minister to say, 
 " O Lord, open Thou our lips;" and for the people to answer 
 him, "And our mouth shall shew forth Thy praise;" and then 
 they proceed immediately to praise the Most High God, Father, 
 Son, and Holy Ghost, in the Hymn of Glory, which, as you 
 know, they repeat also at the end of every Psalm. 
 
 The Psalms themselves, and the Hymns after the Lessons, 
 commonly take up at least one fourth of the time appointed for 
 offering up our devotions to God in His Church. 
 
 Thus we try to obey the Voice which calls to us out of the 
 Throne, " Praise our God, all ye His servants." And we have 
 the comfort and privilege of knowing, that Hk is with us. Who 
 hath promised to be " where two or three are gathered together 
 in His name." He is with us. Who even from the Throne of 
 His glory condescends to speak to us of God as our God ; makjng 
 
PRAISE TO GOD FROM ALL SAINTS. 191 
 
 Himself thereby still one of us, and seeming to promise, that He 
 will offer up our praises as well as our prayers to His Father's 
 Throne. 
 
 Let no man, therefore, be cast down, should there be but two 
 or three present at any time, in these our assemblies. Let the 
 Church look never so desolate, let the answer of the congrega- 
 tion to the voice of praise sound never so faintly to our outward 
 ears, Jesus Christ we know is there, and will offer those praises, 
 with the praises of all Saints, before the Throne of the ever 
 blessed Father ; provided we bring them to Him humbly, with 
 a reverent, faithful, and obedient heart. 
 
 That is the great point ; a reverent and obedient heart ; a 
 heart full of sincere desires to honour God, and keep His com- 
 mandments. He who brings that with him into the congrega- 
 tion, need not be cast down, if he fail sometimes, nay often, 
 either in hearing or in understanding the Psalms and other 
 Hymns, which the congregation with mingled voices are present- 
 ing to the God of Heaven. 
 
 It is sometimes, I believe, no small trouble to well-meaning 
 persons, of weak and tender spirits, when they either cannot 
 understand or cannot hear the praises of God in His house. For 
 such the Church has done all in her power, by appointing the 
 holy Psalms to be used regularly, which most men know how to 
 read, and those who do not, by diligent attendance may learn to 
 follow with much edification. And where, from deafness or great 
 weakness, a person is shut out from this benefit, it will be a great 
 charity to comfort such a person, concerning his coming into the 
 congregation, and to explain to him, that he is far from being 
 shlit out of that spiritual blessing, which they enjoy who sing with 
 the understanding. His coming with a simple purpose to praise 
 the Loud ; his joining with a hearty mind in what little he can 
 understand and hear ; his taking patiently and sweetly the irksome- 
 ness of listening without hearing, and hearing without under- 
 standing : — these are so many good signs, that he sings praises 
 with the Spirit, — with the good Spirit of God ; and so offering 
 thanks and praise, he shall undoubtedly be accounted as honour- 
 ing God. 
 
 But whether for such an one, or for others outwardly more 
 favoured and enlightened, one thing is needful to their reaping 
 
192 PRAISE TO GOD FROM ALL SAINTS. 
 
 this blessing by their praises ; and that is, as the Psalmist 
 teaches, that they " order their conversation right." No others 
 can praise Him acceptably; no others are invited to praise Him 
 by the Voice from the Throne. " Praise our God, all ye His 
 servants," says that gracious but awful voice. His servants only 
 are privileged to praise Him ; that is, as we should call them. 
 His slaves ; those who have given themselves up to Him entirely ; 
 who try to have no will but His ; who give up what else would 
 please them best, when they understand it to be displeasing to 
 Him, and take joyfully affliction, labour, self-denial, when He 
 lays it upon them, and would prepare them thereby for His 
 heavenly Kingdom. 
 
 To this course of life you have all become bound in your Baptism ; 
 when the sign of the Cross was made in your forehead, you were 
 marked for the rest of your life to be a servant and soldier of 
 Jesus Christ. If you would know what this profession comes 
 to, look not to the careless easy lives of the ordinary sort of 
 Christians ; look not to any living, any modern examples, but go 
 back to those whose memories we celebrate to-day ; consider the 
 blessed Saints of old. Apostles, Prophets, Martyrs, Confessors, of 
 •whom the world was not worthy ; and even in them look not so 
 much to their last triumphant sufferings, to their enduring of 
 sharp pains of the body, banishment, martyrdom itself; but rather 
 consider their regular behaviour in quiet times, and in the order- 
 ing of every day : watch them, with Daniel, on their knees, three 
 times in every day praying towards God's holy altar ; or rising 
 at midnight, with David, to " give thanks to Him because of His 
 righteous judgments :" see how thoughtful they were, with holy 
 Job, for their families, children, servants, all who depend on 
 them, no less than for themselves, offering the sacrifice of prayer 
 and intercession for them all, day after day; observe their knees, 
 like St. James's, worn hard with prayer, their bodies, like St. 
 Paul's, kept under and brought into subjection ; take notice, how 
 when first the blessed Comforter came down from Heaven to 
 establish His holy Church, they who were touched by His sacred 
 fires counted none of their possessions their own, but renounced 
 them all, parted with them all for Christ's sake, and were con- 
 tent to live, with the rest of Christ's poor, on a daily allowance 
 out of the funds of the Church : consider these things, and vou 
 
PUAISK TO GOD FROM ALL SAINTS. 193 
 
 ■will have some understanding what it is to be really a slave of 
 Christ, and so to have part in this His invitation to praise Him ; 
 you will see what contempt of the world, what noble carelessness 
 about yourself, what humble devotion, what unwearied charity, 
 you ought to be continually trying to practise, if you would 
 come here and praise God not altogether unworthily. 
 
 Nor let any one Christian draw back in indolence or timidity, 
 as if he, for one, had no part in this merciful invitation of our 
 Saviour. Observe with what encouraging words he concludes 
 it : " Praise our God all ye His servants, and ye that fear Him, 
 both small and great." Fearing God is the great thing; and 
 they who have that in their hearts, how unequal soever in other 
 respects, may come here with all Saints, and unite in praising 
 Him. The free and unbounded mercy and grace of Almighty 
 God in this respect is shown forth by this circumstance in the 
 services of His Holy Cathohc Church ; that her doors are thrown 
 open to all. In this place, if no where else, all ranks and degrees 
 are equal. The rich and the poor meet together, the Lord their 
 common Maker being here to receive their common acknow- 
 ledgments. The young and the old meet together, offering to 
 Him, of whom the whole family is named, the one their first 
 fruits, the other the gathered stores of their whole lives. Here, 
 standing before the same altar, and joining in the same psalms 
 and hymns of thanksgiving, are both the new penitent and the 
 confirmed servant of Christ : he whose heart God has just 
 touched with bitter thoughts of privileges abused, vows for- 
 gotten, warnings slighted, grace received in vain ; and he who 
 having, by the help of God's Spirit, kept in some good measure 
 his baptismal vows, comes rejoicing in the sunshine of God's 
 mercy, with the overflowing of a thankful heart ; the experienced 
 saint and the young beginner ; the solitary student and the just 
 and fair man of business; Lazarus and Zacchseus ; Mary and 
 Martha ; the aged who feels how near the church is to the 
 grave, and the child who can but just have a thought of some- 
 thing awful in this place, making it unlike other places ; — behold, 
 here they meet altogether, with one voice praising one God, 
 through one Mediator, by one Spirit ; exhibiting to the very 
 outward eye the true figure and emblem of that communion and 
 fellowship, in which they are inwardly and spiritually knit, as true 
 
194 PRAISE TO GOD FROM ALL SAINTS. 
 
 members of the mystical body of the Son of God, oiir Lord 
 Jesus Christ. " There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is 
 neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female ; but ye 
 are all one in Christ Jesus." 
 
 And well may we believe, that the greatest differences belong- 
 ing to this present world are done away in God's sight, by the 
 common participation of such heavenly and divine grace, since 
 Holy Scripture teaches further, that a much greater difference, a 
 much wider mark of separation than any of these, is done away 
 with by the grace of the Gospel. It unites not only young and 
 old, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, penitent backsliders 
 and aged men sound in faith, but it also has the gift of uniting 
 the living with the dead, — the living, warring, hard-working, 
 imperfect saints, with those who are at rest in Paradise, and 
 wait only to be made perfect in Heaven. For the Saints in 
 Paradise are unquestionably in the number of those who fear 
 God, that is, who are aware of His awful unspeakable presence, 
 and own Him with a deep reverential joy : they, therefore, as 
 well as we on earth, are invited by tire Voice from the Throne to 
 praise God. And they do in a manner praise Him, doubt it not, 
 with us in our solemn assemblies. Why else, throughout the 
 visions of St, John in the Book of Revelation, are they repre- 
 sented as bearing a part in the blessing, honour, glory, and worship 
 rendered from time to time, in the Apostle's hearing, " unto 
 Him that sitteth upon the Throne, and to the Lamb," by " every 
 creature that is in Heaven and in earth and under the earth ?" 
 And why are " white robes given unto them," but to signify 
 their greater advancement and perfection in the same holy joy, 
 which we are feebly endeavouring to practise, when we sing 
 hymns on earth ? 
 
 Therefore the Church, in that ancient and most beautiful 
 hymn, which sometimes comes in the place of the " Te Deuni," 
 and which begins, " O all ye works of the Lord," — the Church, 
 I say, in that hymn, does not scruple, amongst other works of 
 Gou, to call on the faithful departed to join her in thanking and 
 praising Him. "O ye spirits and souls of the righteous, bless ye 
 the Lord, praise Him and magnify Him for ever." Indeed, why 
 should she scruple ? since the Bible expressly tells us, that when 
 we sing daily to the Most High, " Holy, holy, holy. Lord God 
 
PRAISE TO GOD FROM ALL SAINTS. 195 
 
 of Sabaoth," we are doing that which the Angels in Heaven cease 
 not from doing day and night. And none can doubt, that in 
 Paradise, which is no place of silence, but full of unspeakable 
 words, the like praises are given to the same Divine Being ; else 
 would the Church on earth be more like Heaven than Paradise 
 itself; and it would not be better to depart and to be with 
 Christ : contrary to St. Paul's words. 
 
 Wherefore the Church, from very early days, has added to the 
 angelic hymn, " The glorious company of the Apostles, the 
 goodly fellowship of the prophets, the noble army of martyrs," — 
 all join to praise and " acknowledge Thee " v^dth " the holy Church 
 throughout all the world." And thus it comes to pass, that the 
 humblest poor man of us all, resorting in faith to this service, may 
 know, for a certainty, that he is bearing a part in the same choir 
 with St. Peter and St. Paul, and all the holy men from the 
 beginning. The least in the kingdom of Heaven, when praising 
 God in Church, may thankfully feel his communion with the 
 greatest and most angelic. 
 
 Yet more : he may feel his communion with our Lord Jesus 
 Christ Himself; who, as Head and Priest of His Church, is ever 
 present to gather in one, sanctify and offer up the praises and 
 thanksgivings of His Saints in earth and in Paradise ; and to 
 make them, after a manner, his own praises and thanksgivings ; 
 even as His words in the text, saying to His people, " Praise our 
 God," cannot but mean that He too, takes part in that praise, as 
 He does by His intercession in our prayers. 
 
 Of this merciful privilege, to be vouchsafed to His Church 
 afterwards. He gave a remarkable sign and token, by that paschal 
 hymn, which He sang with His Disciples the night before His 
 death, just as they were rising from the table of the Last Supper, 
 and going out into the Mount of Olives. Who can say what 
 power and virtue was in the Voice of our Blessed Lord, so offered 
 up to His Father, to sanctify the Church's continual offering of 
 psalms and hymns, sung or said, evening and morning, ever 
 since there was a Church, wherever the name of Christ is 
 named ? 
 
 Those psalms and hymns, and our other forms of thanksgiving, 
 are indeed Christ's, and not ours ; for they are offered in the 
 name, not of individuals, nor of this or that particular congrega- 
 
196 PRAISE TO GOD FROM ALL SAINTS. 
 
 tion, but of that body whereof Christ is the head, and which can 
 do nothing without Christ. 
 
 Remember, then, (the thought is an awful one !) that whenever 
 you sing or say a psalm in this place, you are singing or saying it, 
 not with the saints only, but with Christ : and think what pro- 
 fanation it must be, if to that work you bring a voice used to any 
 kind of bad words, — a mind impure, covetous, selfish, unforgiving, 
 irreverent, or in any respect contrary to the known mind of 
 Christ. Let us humble ourselves before God for all our sins in 
 this kind, for surely we have great need ; and let us seriously 
 implore His grace, that we may so watch our own hearts and 
 ways, as not to provoke Him when we come here to join His 
 Saints in praising His Father through Him : but, rather, to 
 make every psalm such an exercise of holy reverence and love, as 
 we may hereafter hope to rehearse more perfectly, when " they 
 that fear Him, both small and great," shall see Him and one 
 another face to face in His heavenly Kingdom. 
 
SERMON CXC. 
 
 CHRISTIAN BEHAVIOUR IN HARVEST i. 
 
 Ruth ii. 4. 
 
 " And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, The Lord 
 be with you. And they answered him, The Lord bless thee." 
 
 All times and seasons have their peculiar trials : in every one of 
 them God is proving His people, in every one of them the Evil 
 One is watching to ruin them : for every one the Bible in the 
 hand of the Church is a sure and sufficient guide. And among 
 the rest, no doubt this time of harvest, coming round by God's 
 Providence every year, and continuing commonly for many 
 weeks; — no doubt this also has its particular dangers, its own 
 special trials and temptations, for all who are any way concerned 
 in it. And who is not concerned in it, either as owner of crops, 
 or as a labourer, or at least as a receiver and consumer of God's 
 bounty so poured out on us ? 
 
 Now, then, that we are about, by God's blessing, to begin 
 gathering in the fruits of this present year, it may be well to con- 
 sider seriously, seriously as before God, some of the duties and 
 trials of the time of harvest. And to what part of holy Scripture 
 can we so naturally turn, as to the beautiful history of Ruth .'' 
 That history is in fact an account of God's gracious Providence, 
 
 1 Preached in 1843. 
 VOL. VI. P 
 
198 CHRISTIAN BEHAVIOUR IN HARVEST. 
 
 blessing both rich and poor, a wealthy man and a poor widow, 
 for their good and religious use of the time of harvest. I suppose 
 it would be quite true to say, that whoever will keep in his heart, 
 and practise, the good examples, and hints of God's pleasure, 
 which are found throughout this short book of Ruth, that man, 
 as far as his part goes, will surely win a blessing on whatever- 
 harvest he is concerned in. "Which of us would not give a great 
 deal, at this moment, to be sure of a blessing on the harvest, 
 which is now just beginning, after so long delay ? Is not this 
 the very thing which has made us all so anxious for so many 
 weeks, not to say months ? Well, here is the way to make sure 
 of that blessing : here is the relief and cure of that anxiety. See 
 how the faithful servants of God, with whom we are sure He was 
 of old, — see how they began and ended their harvest : do you the 
 same, and you will be favoured as they were. 
 
 First, and above all, remember always that your harvest can 
 have no blessing except it be begun and ended in the fear of God. 
 Look at the picture which the text sets before us : the picture of 
 a harvest-field near Bethlehem, in the beginning of barley harvest, 
 — which in that country, as in some parts of our own, comes before 
 wheat harvest, — twelve or thirteen hundred years before the birth 
 of Jesus Christ. The reapers have entered on the field, and the 
 gleaners have begun gleaning after them : and behold the master 
 comes out to see the work. Boaz comes from Bethlehem, and 
 says to the reapers, " The Lord be with you," and they answer, 
 " The Lord bless thee." See here a beginning made in the fear 
 of God. The master blesses the men, and the m^n the master. 
 It is like our Church Service, where the Priest and the people 
 mutually pray for one another : "The Lord be with you," "And 
 with thy spirit." And indeed, perhaps, that very verse and re- 
 sponse was in the first place taken from this simple salutation of 
 Boaz and his reapers. They little thought, when with kind and 
 devout hearts they so bade good day to each other, that they were 
 setting a pattern for a holy service, which the Church of God, 
 guided by His Spirit, would take up from them and use for ever. 
 Yet so it is : they have somewhat of the same honour given them 
 as David in the Old Testament, the Blessed Virgin, Simeon, 
 Zacharias, and others in the New : the honour to have their 
 words appointed to be used by all Christians in their solemn 
 
CHRISTIAN BEHAVIOUR IN HARVEST. 199 
 
 offices of praise and thanksgiving : one of the greatest honours, 
 surely, on this side the grave. 
 
 " The Lord be with you," said Boaz : and it was a salutation 
 well fitted for one coming as he did from Bethlehem. For Beth- 
 lehem was, in the counsels of God, in many respects, a holy 
 place. It was the place where David was ; where he was anoint- 
 ed ; where he kept his sheep ; where no doubt he wrote many of 
 his Psalms. Above all, it was the place ordained for the birth 
 of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; and therefore its very 
 name was, by God's Providence, made to set forth a high and 
 peculiar grace. For Bethlehem means " the House of Bread :" that 
 is, the birthplace, and partly the home, of Him who is the true 
 Bread from heaven, of whom whosoever eateth shall live for ever. 
 Bethlehem is a figure of the Church, for the Church is the true 
 House of Bread. In the Church the Son of God, the Living 
 Bread, is " verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in 
 the Lord's Supper." When I read, therefore, of Boaz coming 
 from Bethlehem among his reapers, it puts me in mind of a 
 Christian husbandman, beginning the season of harvest by wor- 
 thily receiving the Holy Communion, and then going out cheer- 
 fully into his field, overlooking his sheaves, and directing his 
 men, in good hope of a blessing on his labours, because such an 
 one will have a firm trust in God's goodness, and a full purpose 
 to do right, by His grace, in all trials, little and great. 
 
 Boaz had such thoughts of God ; for we see how kind and 
 good and charitable he was to the destitute young widow, Ruth, 
 who, as God's Providence had ordered it, was gleaning in that 
 very field. When he found who she was, he told her to take her 
 portion with his work-people, showed her all kindness himself, 
 and charged them to be kind to her also. And because she was 
 a young person, and he was not only charitable but considerate, 
 he told her to keep fast by his maidens, charged the young men 
 that they should not disturb her, and commanded them to let her 
 glean freely without reproach or rebuke : and indeed his whole 
 behaviour towards her showed him to be both pure and wise of 
 heart. And there are tokens that his servants were such as 
 might be expected from so good and considerate a master : they 
 cheerfully reply to his salutation ; " The Lord bless thee," like 
 
 p 2 
 
200 CHRISTIAN BEHAVIOUR IN HARVEST. 
 
 persons who were glad to see him among them : and it is clear 
 that they attended to his commands regarding Ruth : they kept 
 themselves in order when he was out of sight, otherwise she would 
 not have gone on, as she did, gleaning in his fields to the very 
 end of the harvest. 
 
 Such was the harvest-field of that good and faithful Israelite, 
 and see how great was the blessing of God upon it. He obtained 
 Ruth to be his wife, a most pure, devout, affectionate, self-deny- 
 ing person ; and by her he became the great grandfather of David, 
 and the ancestor of our Lord Jesus Christ. That great hap- 
 piness and honour he would have entirely forfeited, had he be- 
 haved, as too many would have done in his place, either rudely, 
 scornfully, or cruelly. 
 
 I would that the harvest-fields of Christian owners, having 
 Christian labourers at work in them, were oftener ordered after 
 this sacred pattern. For, if you observe it, this history contains 
 what may warn us against all the most ordinary temptations of 
 this employment and this time of year. 
 
 There is a temptation, first of all, to forget God, in anxious 
 forethought, or in hard work. For many weeks on from about 
 this time, you will be, many of you, up early and late, your minds 
 and hearts set upon your work ; every minute will seem to be 
 wanted, and you will be greatly tempted either to forget your 
 prayers, or to say them over in a hurried disrespectful way. 
 Then you will be so exhausted with the week's work, that even 
 when Sunday comes, you will too readily make some excuse why 
 you need not come to God's house. It is a sad truth, that the 
 Church is generally more neglected, even on Sundays, when har- 
 vest is going on, than during the rest of the summer ; and yet 
 one would think that we should all feel, that that is a time when 
 we need an especial blessing. There may be some plea for this 
 perhaps in some cases, when people's work has been very hard : 
 but in any case take care, I beseech you, and watch yourselves, 
 lest you find at the end of these harvest weeks, that you are be- 
 come more heathenish, harder and profaner in heart, than you 
 are now. You will do so of course, if you are not on your guard. 
 Six weeks or two months of continual pressing care about a world- 
 ly task, disturbing prayer, and leaving no leisure for good books : 
 
CHRISTIAN BEHAVIOUR Ix\ HARVEST. 201 
 
 — how can one go through such a time and not be the worse for it, 
 without God's special grace ? and how can this be had, but by 
 earnest prayer and communion ? 
 
 .. But look at Boaz : he remembered God in the field ; much 
 more, you may be sure, did he remember Him in the sanctuary. 
 He used the Lord's Name to bless his people ; how should that 
 holy Name come out of his mouth to curse them ? No anger, no 
 sense of ill-usage, depend upon it, could stir him up to such 
 blasphemous words, as too many of our time allow themselves in, 
 when heated by harvest or any other hard work. It is a sad 
 thing, indeed, that Christians cannot labour together, gathering 
 the fruits of the earth in a quiet honest way, without the air being 
 polluted by horrid oaths, and curses, and other foul and profane 
 talk. Have we not reason to fear, that some great part of the 
 blessing of this and of other harvests may have been forfeited by 
 this sin of swearing in particular, so common as it unhappily is 
 in our fields and along our reads ? For surely it must be in a 
 remarkable degree afi'ronting to the Giver of all goodness, to be 
 thus continually insulting His Name in the very act of receiving 
 His bounty, and when the very dullest must feel, that if He do 
 but hide His face for a moment, if He let loose His storms but 
 for a very short time, all our hopes are gone, and we have famine 
 instead of plenty. 
 
 Again, there is in some parts of harvest work, at least in glean- 
 ing, which goes along with it, a good deal of liberty which is 
 often dangerous. Persons are assembled with no one to keep 
 them in order : there is danger of rudeness, wantonness, intem- 
 perance ; of intemperance especially, when they come home heat- 
 ed and wearied. Yet surely it is no great thing to ask, that 
 Christian labourers should be like those reapers of Boaz, and not 
 behave one way in sight and another out of sight. Surely Chris- 
 tian young men need not be ashamed to be kind and courteous, 
 and respectful to those who cannot protect themselves, when they 
 read how those workmen in the field of Bethlehem behaved to the 
 young stranger Ruth, coming suddenly among them. Neither 
 should Christian masters think much to follow this patriarch in 
 his considerate care, and look a little, as they best may, after the 
 behaviour of those whom they employ or permit upon their 
 grounds. If they care for God's blessing upon their crop, this 
 
202 CHRISTIAN BEHAVIOUR IN HARVEST. 
 
 surely is a likelier way to win it, than if they left every one, in a 
 proud carelessness, to take his own course. 
 
 As to dishonesty, hard or unfair bargains, liberties taken with 
 men's property, or with the time which in fact is theirs, since 
 they are to pay for it : we all feel at once how strange and false 
 a thing it must be, to ask God's blessing and protection on 
 any such ways ; and then, what sort of a course is that on which 
 we are afraid to ask God's blessing ? Better lie in bed palsied 
 or full of sores, than work ever so industriously and successfully, 
 if such deadly sin go along with our work. 
 
 Lastly, let us beware of discontent and unthankfulness. Our 
 times are, no doubt, very trying in that respect ; all times, I sup- 
 pose, are so : but the more men are tempted, the more reason 
 that the ministers of Christ should remind them continually, that 
 all is His will and His doing, and He knows best. "What if we 
 •were to make this harvest, which is just coming on, a school for 
 ourselves in that excellent art of true resignation to God's most 
 holy will ? It will have its untoward accidents, no doubt ; our 
 hopes will be often disappointed or deferred by mist^ikes, un- 
 seasonable weather, or the like. Who knows indeed, whether 
 for our many sins it may not prove a failing harvest, failing in 
 comparison with our hopes, in the country generally ? We have 
 not, unhappily, so lived, as that such a mark of God's anger 
 should be past belief. But let this or any thing else happen, our 
 duty is to make up our minds beforehand that what God wills 
 must be right; to see His countenance through the cloud. His 
 hand guiding the storm ; and so not only to refrain from hard 
 sayings of discontent at the weather, such as all are shocked at, 
 who are not entirely irreligious, but even to submit our inner- 
 most souls in peace and contentment to His will, however severe. 
 None of us can doubt that it is happier far, if such be His will, 
 to bear the greatest losses with a submissive mind, than to make 
 the greatest gain with a spirit lifted up, and withdrawn from 
 holy things. 
 
 Finally, committing ourselves and our works to Him in well- 
 doing, as to a faithful Creator, let us each one for himself resolve, 
 by His grace, to do our part, that our families may be holy fami- 
 lies, our village a holy village, our harvests gathered in, like this 
 of righteous Boaz, in devout acknowledgment of God's presence. 
 
CHRISTIAN BEHAVIOUR IN HARVEST. 203 
 
 in considerate care for the orphan, the fatherless, and the widow, 
 and in watchful anxiety to avoid sin and scandal among all com- 
 mitted to our charge ; that as Boaz and Ruth became the ances- 
 tors of David, and of the Son of God Himself, and so were made 
 use of to carry on His awful purposes, so we may in our day, 
 each of us, do some little towards the coming of His kingdom. 
 So, to conclude with what sounds like a harvest hymn of the 
 Psalmist, May " our garners be full and plenteous with all manner 
 of store ; no decay, no leading into captivity, and no complaining 
 in our streets :" and may we be " a happy people, having the Lord 
 for our God !" Or if our sins have lost us that blessing, may we 
 at least be a penitent people, having hope to be forgiven through 
 Christ Jesus ! 
 
SERMON CXCI. 
 
 ST. PAUL'S JOY IN PRISON. 
 
 Philip, iv. II. 
 " I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." 
 
 What was the condition of the Saint who wrote these words ? He 
 was in prison, in danger of his life : he had nothing to hve upon, 
 but the charitable offerings of his Christian brethren in dif- 
 ferent places : for the time he was hindered from any open and 
 visible way of doing good in his calling : and if he were released, 
 he had nothing to look to, but a continuation of the sadness, 
 poverty, and danger. 
 
 St. Paul was in prison when he wrote to the Philippians : for 
 he speaks of his bonds in Christ several times in the first chap- 
 ter. He was in danger of his life : for he says, Christ, he was 
 sure, would be " magnified in his body ;" that is, his sufferings 
 would bring glory to Christ, whether it were in his life or in his 
 death : he was " in a strait," whether to wish to die or to live : he 
 did not know how soon he might be offered, how soon his blood 
 might be poured out, " upon the sacrifice and service of the faith 
 of his brethren." 
 
 He was in prison then, and in danger: and what had he to 
 live on during his imprisonment ? Nothing, as it appears, but 
 either what he got by the labour of his hands, or what was sent 
 him as a charitable offering by such Christians as those of Phi- 
 lippi, to whom he wrote from his prison, that he " abounded, 
 
ST. Paul's joy in prison, 205 
 
 having received from them their most acceptable offerings," 
 which he calls " a sacrifice well pleasing to God." 
 
 Of course, too, while he was thus imprisoned, he must have 
 seemed, to himself and others, in a great measure cut off from 
 doing any good in his high calling : he could not go wherever 
 the Spirit might guide him, " teaching and exhorting publicly, 
 and from house to house :" he could not be " instant in season and 
 out of season." And even if he should be released, as he hoped to 
 be, yet he had no other prospect than poverty and danger before 
 him. He would still have to work for his bread, or to be fed by 
 the alms of the people ; he would still have to come to the prison 
 and the grave again. 
 
 Such was the outward condition of the great Apostle ; to say 
 nothing now of his thousand inward cares and perplexities, 
 enough surely to break the heart of most men, and such as we 
 might think would almost excuse any person for being a little 
 discontented and uneasy at his own lot. But how does St, Paul 
 take it ? He is not only content, but joyful. His letter, from 
 beginning to end, is written in the most cheerful spirit. " I 
 thank my God," says he, " upon every remembrance of you, 
 always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with 
 joy." " Whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is preached, 
 and I therein do rejoice ; yea, and will rejoice ; for I know that 
 this shall turn to my salvation." " Fulfil ye my joy, that I may 
 rejoice in the day of Christ." " If I be offered up, I joy and re- 
 joice with vou : for the same cause do ye joy and rejoice with me." 
 " Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say. Rejoice." " I re- 
 joiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me 
 hath flourished again." Joy and rejoicing, peace and contented 
 love, are the very notes, as it were, which make up his hymn, 
 the thoughts which break out of his heart on every occasion, 
 whilst he is writing this affectionate letter to his "brethren dearly 
 beloved and longed for," his " joy and crown." Poor as he was, 
 and reproached, and in prison, and in danger of death, and looking 
 to no better condition as long as he should live in the world ; for- 
 lorn too, with no wife, no child, no brother, nor sister, no very 
 near relation or natural friend to support him ; yet his heart is 
 overflowing with gladness : it breaks out on every side, like the 
 
206 ST. PAUL'S JOY IN PRISON. 
 
 odour of the blessed Mary Magdalen's ointment, which filled all 
 the house. 
 
 It is not that he feels it his duty to be calm and thankful, that 
 he commands himself and forces himself to be so ; that he checks 
 and puts down, with more or less pain, the struggling feelings of 
 discontent and vexation within him : this might be a true account 
 of what passed in the mind of many Christians, even of some 
 Saints, at times ; but it is not the account of what was passing 
 in St. Paul's mind, at least not when he was writing this letter to 
 the Philippians : the joy and thanksgiving of his heart was then 
 like a well of bright water, springing up within him of itself, 
 without his seeking, without any effort of his. His joy then 
 swelled highest, when outwardly there seemed most reason for 
 fear and sorrow. 
 
 What is the account of this ? how can it be explained ? He 
 tells us himself in one word : " I can do all things through 
 Christ which strengtheneth me." Or, according to the word 
 which a Prophet had before put into the mouth of God's people 
 in their distress : " When I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a 
 light unto me." " The Lord is my strength and my song, and 
 is become my salvation." 
 
 The presence of Christ was that good thing in St. Paul's lot, 
 which turned every thing round it into brightness : as in pictures 
 which many of us have seen of our Lord's nativity, a light is 
 represented beaming from the cradle of the Divine Child, and 
 filling every corner of the house, turning the poor stable and the 
 rude manger into something more glorious, even to the eye, than 
 the richest and brightest halls and pillars in a king's palace. 
 Because of Christ's presence it seemed to him that he had all, 
 and abounded, though he had but enough to go on from day to 
 day, and depended for it on the alms of Christians very far off. 
 Because Christ was with him and in him, he was not cast down 
 by the most untoward things which were every day happening to 
 him. He was in bonds ; the Jews of Rome, his brethren after 
 the flesh, were obstinate against him ; his name was everywhere 
 spoken of maliciously, in envy and strife. But Christ was with 
 him, and gave him to see that all this turned out rather to the 
 furtherance of the Gospel. He was daily on the edge of death. 
 
ST. PAUL S JOY IN PRISON. 207 
 
 but that was a joy to him, for he desired " to depart and to be with 
 Christ ;" nevertheless he was content to Hve in the flesh, seeing 
 that it so pleased God, because it was more needful for his bre- 
 thren, for their " furtherance and joy of faith." 
 
 What was it that made life and death, so great a matter, a 
 thing so indifferent to St. Paul ? Because, whether he lived or 
 died, he knew he should be with Christ. Christ in him, the 
 hope of glory, Christ dwelling in his heart by faith, Christ 
 standing by him to strengthen him : — this was what made him 
 content and joyful to abide in the flesh in the midst of all those 
 sufferings, instead of at once departing to be for ever with Christ 
 glorified. 
 
 Now, how was St. Paul so assured of the presence and 
 blessing of our Lord Jesus Christ, His actual presence within 
 him, changing him from glory to glory, and all that befel him 
 into a blessing .'' 
 
 St. Paul knew this, in the first place, by his being made par- 
 taker of Christ's sacraments. Christ's prophet had said to 
 him in Christ's Name, "Arise and be baptized, and wash away 
 thy sins," and he had accepted the invitation : therefore he knew 
 that his sins were washed away ; he knew that he had put on 
 Christ, that he was "washed, sanctified, justified, in the Name of 
 the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." Again, he knew 
 — it is his own way of reasoning with the Corinthians — that he 
 continued a member of that one Body, by his partaking of the 
 One Bread, which is given to all the faithful alike in the Holy 
 Communion. 
 
 But then, because it is possible for persons to receive the grace 
 of God's Sacraments in vain ; to throw away the great blessings 
 of Baptism and of the Holy Eucharist, by going back to their old 
 sins ; therefore St. Paul was ever watchful to add to these ou. - 
 ward signs the inward and only certain marks of Christ's pre- 
 sence. He exercised himself to keep always " a conscience void 
 of ofi'ence towards God and towards man." He " lived in all 
 good conscience towards God." He " kept under his body, and 
 brought it into subjection, lest that by any means, when he had 
 preached to others, he himself should be a cast-away." He 
 " knew nothing of himself ;" no wilful habitual sin ; but he dared 
 not therefore say he was righteous ; his own doings he knew could 
 
208 ST. Paul's joy in prison. 
 
 never justify him : that must be the work of Christ's awful pre- 
 sence within him. Yet this comfort he had in them, that they 
 were a token of Christ's presence. 
 
 It is his own account of the matter. " Our rejoicing is this ; 
 the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sin- 
 cerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have 
 had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you- 
 ward." And again, " As we have received mercy, we faint not ; 
 but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking 
 in craftiness, nor handling the word of Goo deceitfully, but by 
 manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's 
 conscience in the sight of God." These are a few out of many 
 places, which show how St. Paul was enabled to turn his affliction 
 into joy ; to feel as if he had all and abounded, when he was in 
 prison, living on charity, and in daily peril of death with tor- 
 ments. He knew that Christ was with him by His Sacraments, 
 and he had the sober testimony of his own conscience, that he 
 had not forfeited the grace of those Sacraments : he had not diiven 
 Christ away from him. 
 
 This account of St. Paul's content and joyfulness is also too 
 true and plain an account, why the world, as we see it around us, 
 has so little of content and joyfulness in it at present. Is it not 
 so ? Look where you will, are not the generality of people in care 
 and trouble ? 
 
 I do not now speak of that care and trouble, which arises from 
 doubt and fear about holy things ; from anxiety lest they should 
 not have found Christ, or fear lest they should have forfeited 
 His blessed presence. No doubt, there is a good deal of such 
 distress as that among Christians in all times, especially in these : 
 but for that kind of fear and trouble, the sense of our sins and 
 the fear of losing Christ's presence, there is this great and sure 
 consolation : that let it be as bitter as it may, it is in the way to- 
 wards healing ; for that is the very case concerning which our 
 Lord has said, "Come unto Me, edl ye that labour and are heavy 
 laden, and I will give you rest." 
 
 It is not of this fear that I am now speaking, but of that which 
 is unhappily far more common : discontent, and care, and fretful- 
 ness about our condition in this life. Every one of course is 
 tempted to this, for no one's condition, I suppose, is exactly what 
 
ST. Paul's joy in prison. 209 
 
 he could wish : every one is tempted to be discontented and fret- 
 ful, but no one surely is forced to give way to the temptation, any 
 more than to any other bad inclination. No Christian can truly 
 say, I cannot help grumbling and repining, any more than he can 
 say, I cannot help saying bad words, or, I cannot help lusting 
 after evil things. Fretting care, and fear, and vexation of heart, 
 and grudging against others, cannot be the necessary condition 
 of any of Christ's people. There must be a remedy for it in the 
 Gospel, as for every other sin and misery, had we but the heart 
 to use it. 
 
 And yet, how is it with us, I fear I must say with almost all of 
 us, in this respect ? Think of St. Paul in his imprisonment, living 
 from day to day on the alms of his brethren : or of the same St. 
 Paul out of prison, refusing alms, and maintaining himself as he 
 might, by his trade. So far, St. Paul was in the condition of by 
 far the greater number of the inhabitants of this or any other 
 place, who are either supported by others, or are getting their 
 own bread, but seldom perhaps in either case so abundantly as 
 we might wish. St. Paul was outwardly in the same condition 
 as most of the labourers and tradesmen in this or in any other 
 English village : but he says, " I have all and abound : I am ex- 
 ceeding joyful in all my tribulations : I have learned, in what- 
 soever state I am, therewith to be content :" and we, alas ! 
 wherever we go, speak and hear very different sounds from these. 
 I say we, because it is too true, that discontent and fretful ness be- 
 long to those who have enough and to spare, quite as commonly 
 as it does to the poor and needy ; and the devil craftily manages 
 to make some men quite as miserable through an unchristian fear 
 of want, as others are made by an unchristian way of bearing it. 
 
 All of us then, my brethren, are in danger (who shall deny it ?) 
 of indulging such thoughts, and feelings, and questionings as 
 these : " How hard the times are ! how unkind every one is ! how 
 little am I looked on in comparison of others ! how unreasonable 
 it is of this employer or that master, to expect so much of me, or 
 allow me so little ! Such an one may be contented, for he has 
 not this or that burthen which I have : or he has this or that 
 help which I have not : but as for me, all things are against me, 
 and how can I be easy in my mind }" 
 
 Is it not too true, that a great number of us, in various condi- 
 
210 ST. Paul's joy in prison. 
 
 tions of life, have so long gone on indulging themselves in thoughts 
 and words like these, that they are become quite habitual to them, 
 ■worn as one may say into the very grain and staple of their lives? 
 Night and day they abound in such thoughts : they lie down to 
 rest with them, and with them they awake in the morning : till 
 at last, instead of rejoicing, like St. Paul in his prison and want, 
 they show rather in the sight of God and His Angels, who are 
 all the while watching them, such a dismal picture as the Pro- 
 phet describes, speaking of the last days of a corrupt Church and 
 People : " Men shall pass through the land, hardly bestead and 
 hungry ; and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be 
 hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their 
 God, and shall look upward. And they shall look unto the earth, 
 and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish ; and they 
 shall be driven to darkness." 
 
 Now why is it that we are so miserable, or at best so unquiet, 
 whereas St. Paul in the same or a much more forlorn condition 
 was so full of content and joy and hope ? Surely because we 
 want what he had : the inward witness of our conscience, assur- 
 ing us that we have in such measure kept our baptismal vow, as 
 not to have forfeited the presence of Jesus Christ. Surely, if 
 we would be content and happy, we must recover this inward wit- 
 ness, for by God's exceeding mercy it may be recovered, so far as 
 that our consciences may assure us of our endeavouring at least to 
 be truly and continually penitent. We, as St. Paul, may from this 
 time forth exercise ourselves in keeping a good conscience toward 
 God and toward man. As we get on in that good work, we shall 
 learn with St. Paul to be content. I do not say that we shall of 
 course be joyful : the memory of past sins may for a long time 
 more or less hinder our feeling bright and lively in our spirits : 
 but this, by God's blessing, we may depend on, that as the work 
 of true repentance goes on, the gracious Saviour of our souls will 
 be more and more effectually present in our hearts : a sweet and 
 calm hope will revive within us, though we may never in this 
 world feel a joyful confidence such as St. Paul's : and our path, 
 though often clouded by sad remembrances, will on the whole 
 grow brighter and brighter. 
 
 When we are entered on such a course as this, our present 
 discomforts will very soon cease to make us discontented. What- 
 
ST. Paul's joy in prison. 211 
 
 ever they may be, we shall learn to take them thankfully, as 
 God's appointed way of chastening us here, that He may spare us 
 hereafter. 
 
 What can a poor person do better, than offer up his wants and 
 cares and sorrows as a kind of sacrifice to Almighty God, to be 
 united to that grief which our Lord bore for him on the Cross ? 
 If he bear them thankfully for Christ's sake, they make him 
 more like Christ, they bring him nearer to Christ ; and so, 
 though sharp in themselves, they will be sweet to him : for that 
 which brings Christ nearer, how can it be other than a joy, to 
 one who at all truly loves Christ ? 
 
SERMON CXCII. 
 
 RESIGNATION THE SCHOOL OF PIETY ». 
 
 Philip, iv. 11. 
 " I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." 
 
 Some who are here may perhaps remember, that at the beginning 
 of the harvest which is just over, I called on you to consider 
 the history of Boaz and Ruth, and showed you how you might 
 learn to obtain God's blessing on the works of your hands, and 
 on the fruits of your fields. Since then the weeks of the harvest 
 have passed away ; and no one, I suppose, will deny, that having 
 been a most anxious time at the beginning, God has brought 
 us through it far better than we could have expected. 
 
 If any one, farmer, labourer, or other person, be now inclined 
 to complain and find fault, and talk and think with Bitterness of 
 the times going so much against him, I would wish him just to 
 imagine to himself how much he would have given, what price 
 we would all of us have paid, could we have been made certain, 
 at the beginning of the harvest-weeks, that the progress and end, 
 of them would be such as it was : that the weather would change, 
 and become glorious and bright, just such as harvest work re- 
 quires, for the whole time of gathering in, and that not in this or 
 that place only, but the whole country over : that the damage 
 done to the crops in some way should be amply made up by their 
 prosperity in other ways, and that at a time when for many 
 
 > Preached in 1843. 
 
RESIGNATION THE SCHOOL OF PIETY. 213 
 
 reasons any failure in the harvest would have been of even worse 
 consequence than usual. Who could have reckoned upon all this ? 
 and yet all this has been done for us, by the gracious bounty of 
 Him who always gives more than either we desire or deserve. 
 Let us at least be thankful for the blessing now it has been given; 
 there has been among us too much of unquiet murmuring and 
 dissatisfaction, in the bare looking on to the evil time ; let us not 
 now add to the sin, and make it more inexcusable, by repining at 
 God's way of dealing out His bounty to us ; that this man, as we 
 choose to think, has too much, and another too little. 
 
 Indeed, to murmur and complain, openly and directly, against 
 the weather or the crops which God sends, is so very gross im- 
 piety, that it is not often, I trust, found among us : and when 
 any person, giving way to unbehef, is heard to utter a thought of 
 that sort, people are of course shocked at it ; it would be well 
 then, if we had the same kind of feeling in regard of all discon- 
 tent with any of God's gracious dealings. For in truth, to be 
 content, and make up your mind that all things but sin are some- 
 how ordered for the best, is as reasonable and right in our 
 thoughts of other matters, as of the weather and the crops which 
 God sends. 
 
 Suppose you are a hired labourer or servant, you get your bread 
 by working for another : you would be shocked, and with good 
 reason, should you hear your master speak in a blasphemous and 
 bitter way of the times and the seasons which God sends : but 
 what if you permit yourself to use the same kind of language 
 concerning your master, and others who are set over you, or with 
 whom you are to work ? is not this also inexcusable in the hear- 
 ing of God and His holy Angels ? For they see plainly, that as 
 the weather and the seasons are of God's own sending, so is the 
 master whom we serve, so are the companions who work with us, 
 so are all the circumstances, little and great, of our station ; even 
 that which is most amiss in them, that which is really perverse 
 and sinful. He allows for wise and good purposes : and to rebel 
 against it, or to complain of it in a bitter, discontented way, is 
 the same kind of impiety, though it may not startle us so much, 
 as rebeUing against God, or complaining of the weather. 
 
 Some persons are so unhappily minded, that whatever is done 
 to them, whatever condition they are placed in, they are always 
 
214 RESIGNATION THE SCHOOL OF PIETV. 
 
 imagining how things might have been better, how they might 
 have been more kindly treated, how this or that inconvenience 
 might have been avoided, this or that comfort provided for ; and 
 they lose all, or more than half, of the enjoyment of what God 
 has really provided for them, in fancying how much more they 
 might have had, which others, as it seems to them, have. And 
 as to the Great Giver of all, they become, without knowing it, 
 really quite unthankful to Him. 
 
 I believe one great temptation to many, to get into this evil 
 way, is their very high opinion of themselves, their own judg- 
 ment and foresight, their own skill and management. They are 
 pleased with themselves, and account it a mark of wisdom to be 
 quick in finding all the fault they can ; and the Evil One, who is 
 always on the watch to make them like himself, is ready enough 
 to help them to such thoughts as these, " How much better I could 
 do this or that ! how provoking it is that I am not allowed to 
 order it ! how hard that others should get so much praise and 
 reward, which I deserve far more than they ! how intolerable that 
 people will not see how easily they might get rid of this or that 
 uncomfortable circumstance, and make my life more agreeable, or 
 my profit greater than it is !" 
 
 These are the thoughts which night and day take up the minds 
 of a great number of Christian persons, redeemed and regenerated 
 souls, for whom Heaven had been prepared : these are the husks 
 with which their hard master feeds them, instead of the sweet 
 refreshment of Christian content and thankfulness. They lose 
 the benefit of their honesty and sobriety, their truth and indus- 
 try, and many other virtues, because they will not have so much 
 faith, as to trust God really and heartily with themselves in this 
 present world. 
 
 When discontent is searched out to the bottom, it is in fact no 
 better than unbelief. It is the root then of all evil, for it is 
 setting yourself against the will of God, just as being resigned 
 and contented is having the same will as He has. 
 
 And besides this, there is the greatest danger of a person's 
 being led, by a murmuring temper, into other great and deadly 
 sin, such as now perhaps he least dreams of. Who was the first 
 murmurer we read of .? It was our mother Eve; she murmured 
 and thought it hard to be kept from that one tree, hanging as its 
 
RESIGNATION THE SCHOOL OF PIETY. 215 
 
 fruit did always within her reach ; and the consequence we all 
 know. 
 
 Who was the next, to show himself quick in perceiving what 
 was disagreeahle in his own lot, and jealous of others preferred 
 before him ? Tt was Eve's eldest son, Cain ; in this respect 
 too much made after her likeness. He saw that Abel was more 
 favoured than he : he murmured at it ; and before long he was 
 the murderer of his brother. 
 
 Consider again the children of Israel in the wilderness ; it would 
 really seem as if their sad fall was entirely owing, in the first 
 instance, to discontent. They were continually murmuring 
 against the way in which Moses and Aaron ordered things. 
 " Ye have brought this whole assembly into the wilderness, to kill 
 us with hunger. Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast 
 thou brought us out to die in the wilderness ? to kill us, and our 
 children, and our cattle, with thirst ?" This was their wav of 
 speaking all along : it is the tone of proud discontented persons, 
 quite sure that they knew well enough what ought to have been 
 done, and angry that they had not their own way ; and what did 
 it come to ? They really forgot, or disbelieved, after a while, 
 that there was a God with them to be their Guide, that all these 
 were trials permitted by Him ; and they set up other gods to go 
 before them ; they made them a captain to return to Egypt ; they 
 joined themselves to Baalpeor, in the worst and most impure 
 idolatry. 
 
 So it is with all of us, one way or another, when we permit 
 ourselves to "murmur in our tents," instead of "hearkening to 
 the voice of the IjOrd." Dissatisfied with the measure of present 
 comfort which Almighty God affords us, we look here and there 
 for something to take up our minds, something on which we may 
 rest, and be rid of the fretting anxious longing for more. He 
 offers us the kingdom of heaven, offers us Himself, and the plea- 
 sures which are at His right hand, for evermore. If we close 
 with that gracious offer, well ; then our discontent and repining 
 will be changed, by His grace, into a disregard of worldly things, 
 and an earnest longing for true happiness : but if we will not 
 accept God, behold, God's enemy and ours is but too ready with 
 his tempting offers of something to suit our fancies, and make us 
 forget for the time ourselves and our restlessness. 
 
 q2 
 
216 RESIGNATION THE SCHOOL OF TIETY. 
 
 Thus men who at the beginning dreamed of no such evil conse- 
 quences, but merely followed their passions, because they were 
 weary and discontented, have become drunkards, robbers, adul- 
 terers : no sin so horrible, but they may be so led into it. The 
 progress in sin of the unfaithful Israelites, is what too many may 
 understand by their own miserable experience. First they mur- 
 mured, then lusted after evil things, then committed fornication, 
 then became idolaters, and fell away entirely from God. 
 
 O beware then, my brethren, of the first whisper of a dis- 
 contented repining spirit ! However natural it may seem to you, 
 however slight and ordinary the occasion on which it is exer- 
 cised, the Evil One, depend on it, is at hand, to make his ad- 
 vantage of it to our ruin : and the good Spirit of God too. He, 
 we are yet more sure, is at hand, to turn even this to good, if we 
 will work with Him. 
 
 For let it be ever so little a matter which annoys us, if we get 
 over it because we are determined to be contented and cheerful, 
 knowing such to be the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning 
 us, this is the work of the gracious Comforter, this is that good 
 thing which the Scripture calls Joy, and mentions, along with 
 Love and Peace, among the fruits of the Spirit. 
 
 It greatly furthers true prayer, as any man may find, who after 
 forcing himself in earnest, for conscience sake, to bear with dis- 
 agreeable behaviour, or rude words, or untoward events, or irk- 
 some duties, kneels down to ask for God's blessing : there will be 
 silent comfortable whispers of hope, so to call them, in the air 
 around him, such as the wilfully restless and repining must never 
 expect to find accompanying their prayers. 
 
 Such habits of self-denial in ordinary company and every- day 
 work are a great help in that self-denial which is more properly 
 called religious and devotional. If you are used to keep yourself 
 from repining and gloom, when untoward things happen, you will 
 the more easily command your appetite on your fasting-day, or 
 resist any other pleasure which you know you ought not to 
 indulge in. 
 
 For, strange to say, the disposition to be discontented, all 
 painful as one would think it must be, takes hold of people in a 
 way very like the love they have for any other evil thing. It 
 haunts them, returns upon them, accompanies them every where : 
 
RESIGNATION THE SCHOOL OF PIETY. 217 
 
 they must watch, and deal warily with themselves, and try all 
 ways to get the better of it. If you read the history of Saul, for 
 example, the first king of Israel, you will see how the spirit of 
 repining and jealousy, once indulged, gets hold of a man, and 
 makes his whole life and heart, by degrees, miserable and 
 wicked, a burthen to himself, and a calamity to all who come 
 near him. 
 
 The greatest safeguard against it is the spirit of humility. If 
 you truly think yourself of little worth, you will be truly satisfied 
 with what God and man allow you, though it be but little. You 
 will be, as the Psalmist teaches, like a weaned child, into whom 
 no thought of pride has ever yet entered, and who is therefore 
 soon taught content and patience, when debarred from that which 
 had seemed most necessary to him. 
 
 The least regard from Almighty God, the least favourable 
 turn of His Providence, is to such a simple humble person a. 
 wonder of mercy, because he accounts and knows himself to be 
 unworthy of any favour at all. Other persons, probably of less 
 saintly and less holy turn of mind, are astonished when they 
 hear these contented ones so very thankful for what they deem 
 such ordinary matters : they think it either a sort of affectation 
 or childishness ; but it is in fact an outpouring, in its degree, of 
 the same Spirit which wrought in the blessed Elisabeth, mother 
 of St. John Baptist, and caused her to cry out, upon the visit of 
 her cousin, the Virgin Mary, " Whence is this to me, that the 
 mother of my Lord should come unto me ?" 
 
 Why should not we, my brethren, every one of us, try to enter 
 into her mind ; to take every thing pleasant, however trifling, as. 
 a token from Him who then came invisibly with His mother to 
 Elisabeth : and to make unpleasant things also tokens of Him, 
 since they are opportunities given of enduring, though it be but a 
 little, for His sake ? What greater mercy or grace could have 
 been shown to us, sinners as we are, by the Father of all mer- 
 cies, than so to give us a chance of finding Him in every thing ? 
 What greater misery and folly than ours, if we persist in fixing 
 our foolish hearts on the mere present outward vexation or 
 comfort, instead of looking on to the spiritual, eternal use 
 of it? 
 
 Think of the blessed Saints, my brethren, and be ashamed ta 
 
218 RESIGNATION THE SCHOOL OF PIETY. 
 
 murmur at your burthens, so light in comparison : think of the 
 joy set before you, and how miserable it would be to lose that, by 
 having all your own way now. Think of the Cross — think of it 
 in earnest ; do not only say over its name, and that of the Blessed 
 One hanging on it, but think of it and of Him deeply in your 
 hearts; then surely, whatever your state, you will learn " there- 
 with to be content." 
 
SERMON CXCIII. 
 
 GOD'S THRESHING, AND THE CORN OF HIS FLOORS 
 
 Matthew xiii. 39. 
 " The harvest is the end of the world." 
 
 The labours of one more harvest are now, I believe, fairly com- 
 pleted ; the plough and the harrovp, the scythe and the sickle, 
 have done their work for this season : the barns and the yards 
 are stored, and the husbandman's anxieties are so far over. And 
 surely we have great reason to be thankful to God Almighty 
 for the comparative plenty of this season : especially when we 
 look back on the last sowing time, and recollect how many weeks 
 and months we had of what seemed most unseasonable weather, 
 so that in very many placea the principal crops could not be got 
 into the 'ground until very long after the proper time, and there 
 seemed reason to fear a great falling oiF in the provision of 
 thousands for the next winter. From these fears we have been 
 rgUesed : not surely for any merit of ours, but entirely through' 
 the mercy of Him who maketh His Sun to rise on the evil and 
 on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and unjust. And it is 
 to be hoped that we have all before now oftered up thanksgivings 
 again and again for so great, so undeserved, an instance of His 
 fatherly care. Many of us for some weeks past have had in our 
 mouths such words as these : " What a blessed time we have had ! 
 
 ' Preached after harvest in 1842. 
 
220 god's threshing, 
 
 how gracious God has been to the land ! how grateful we ought 
 to be I" Surely it were a great pity to let all this spend itself in 
 mere good feelings and good words. We should be ashamed to 
 do so," if we had to deal with an earthly benefactor, whose bread 
 we were daily eating. Did we know of any particular object on 
 which he had set his heart, and which we had it in our power 
 to forward, we should account it too bad in ourselves to neglect 
 that object, or be but cold in pursuing it. 
 
 Now the great object with the Lord of the harvest, in the 
 ordering of this lower world, is, as we know, the estabhshment 
 and furtherance of the Kingdom of Heaven : and He constantly 
 sets before us the harvest, with its various cares and works, as 
 what may teach us a great deal of that Kingdom. It may then, 
 by His blessing, be a good way of showing our thankfulness, if 
 we try to consider and fix in our minds what inward and spiritual 
 lessons He meant us to learn, by the outward appearances and 
 various experience of this and of every year's harvest. It is in 
 fact a great and awful parable, repeated to our very eyes as regu- 
 larly as the year comes round. Let us attend to it with some- 
 thing of the same earnest awfulness of mind, as if we were 
 actually by, and heard our Lord explain it, as He sometimes did 
 in His parables, to the multitude gathered round Him. 
 
 "The harvest," He tells us, " is the end of the world." It is 
 the regular Scriptural image of the great Day of Judgment. 
 Thus in the prophet Joel: "Assemble yourselves, and come, all 
 ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about ; — let 
 the heathen be wakened, and come up. . . for then will I sit to 
 judge all the heathen round about : Put ye in the sickle, for the 
 harvest is ripe." And again, St. John in the Revelation " looked, 
 and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like the 
 Son pF Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His 
 hand a sharp sickle. And another Angel came out of the temple, 
 crying with a loud voice to Him that sat on the cloud, Tlirust in 
 Thy sickle, and reap, for the time is come for Thee to reap ; for 
 the harvest of the earth is ripe. And Hk that sat on the cloud 
 thrust in His sickle on the earth ; and the earth was reaped." 
 
 The Almighty then plainly intends, that thoughtful persons, 
 having His instructions in their hearts, should be reminded, when 
 they see a harvest field, of that which we shall all see at the end 
 
AND THE CORN OF HIS FLOOR. 221 
 
 of the world. Our first thoughts naturally are of the heauty and 
 richness of the sight, and of the great relief and comfort which 
 comes of it to men's bodies, and to the estate of the world. But 
 he that will take a hint from our Lord's own instructions, 
 will look further on, to things out of bodily sight. He will see in 
 each stalk of corn the token of his own changed body, to rise one 
 day out of the grave, the same with this which now is, yet as 
 unlike it as the plant of wheat is unlike the dry grain which was 
 sown. He will see in the reapers, the Angels or Messengers of 
 Christ, sent forth in these last days to gather together His elect 
 from the one end of the earth to the other. The sickle will re- 
 present to him God's fearful judgments on this world and on 
 the sinners in it, whereby this final gathering is to be accom- 
 plished. 
 
 Let us use ourselves to such thoughts as these. If we have 
 hitherto been accustomed to regard the harvest as a matter merely 
 of this world : if we have gone through this present season, not 
 (it may be hoped) unthankful to Him who openeth His hand and 
 filleth all things living with plenteousness, but without any special 
 thought of the great Day of Judgment, as being that which such 
 seasons were meant to remind us of : I beseech you, let us resolve 
 to do so no more. Let us not think only of prices and crops, of 
 skill and labour, and wages, and of the meat which perisheth ; 
 but let us use ourselves, when we see this principal work of the 
 year going on, to imagine, and see with our mind's eye, the great 
 work of God's everlasting year — the gathering in for eternity of 
 the whole world. 
 
 To enter a little more into particulars : — The corn, standing 
 in its place, is like the children of the Church, either as yet in 
 this first life, or newly raised out of their graves, awaiting the 
 sickle : that is, awaiting the commands of the Lord of the har- 
 vest, the Son of Man on His Throne, who shall send forth His 
 reapers,' His Angels and Saints, to gather out of His Kingdom all 
 offences and all evildoers, to be burned like tares in the fire, and 
 to gather the wheat. His fruitful ones, into His barn. 
 
 "The harvest is the end of the world," the time appointed by 
 the Master. Other persons, perhaps, going along the field, may 
 have been wondering, from time to time, when it would be 
 reaped, thinking how ripe it was, some perhaps blaming the owner 
 
 ^ 
 
222 god's threshing, 
 
 for waiting so long : but in the mean time he is the only judge ; 
 when he sees fit, and not sooner, the work shall begin. Just so 
 it is with the great day ; some perhaps will have been complain- 
 ing, and crying out with the Saints under the Altar, " How long, 
 O Lord, dost Thou not judge and avenge our cause ?" but it all rests 
 with Him : when He sees fit, and no sooner, the sickle will be put 
 forth, and the harvest of the earth reaped ; and that suddenly, 
 and so as to take the greater number unprepared. 
 
 Again : even in the cleanest and best cultivated land, up to 
 the very time of gathering the crop, we see a mixture of weeds 
 and corn ; and our Lord in the parable of the tares, from which 
 the text is taken, expressly warns us that this will be the case in 
 His Kingdom, even unto the great day. The tares which the 
 enemy hath sown are to grow together with the wheat until the 
 harvest. Scandalous persons and evil-doers will be not entirely 
 rooted out of the Church, until that day come. God Almighty 
 bears with them so far, and so must we for a time. 
 
 Again, it is a natural thought, when the harvest comes, that 
 now is the real time of trying and judging of all the different 
 plans and modes of cultivation, which have been adopted in dif- 
 ferent grounds throughout the year. Now, and not until now, 
 are the kindliness of the soil and the skill of the husbandman put 
 to their final and certain proof. Our works, all the year through, 
 have had reference to this moment : if they are found to answer 
 now, it is well : if not, however fair and promising appearances 
 may have been for a time, the whole is a failure. The corn may 
 have sprung up early, the field may have looked green and beauti- 
 ful and refreshing, the ears may have seemed healthful, and have 
 waved pleasantly in the wind : but this is not what the husband- 
 man looks for : he is intent on the end : he looks to see if the 
 ripe sheaves yield abundantly : that is what answers his purpose, 
 that and nothing else. 
 
 Do you not at once see, how true all this is in a spiritual sense? 
 If we are wise, we too shall look forward, all the year through, 
 to the time of harvest. Nothing will satisfy us, short of that 
 which will do us good at the last day. The greenness and beauty 
 of early beginnings in goodness, the fair and ricli promise of later 
 years, and what seem good works, will be a hope and comfort to 
 us, but we shall not depend upon them. We shall still look for- 
 
AND THE CORN OF HIS FLOOR. 223 
 
 ward, with awfulness and fear, to the end, and shall try to order 
 all our doings in such a way as may profit us then : remembering 
 that *• God seeth not as man seeth." Fair words and good in- 
 tentions now, are like the greenness of com in spring : they will 
 but make the disappointment bitterer, if the harvest come and 
 find us without good fruit. 
 
 It is often found that the corn yields very diflferently from what 
 had been expected : this present year, I believe, is an instance : 
 the ears that seemed short, and from which little was expected, 
 are found well stored with wholesome and nourishing grain. 
 Here is a hint to stay our unruly tongues, so apt to pass sentence 
 upon this or that one among our neighbours. If we cannot judge 
 beforehand of the corn which we see growing close to us, how 
 much less of the hearts and lives of our brethren, which we do 
 not see! "Wherefore judge nothing before the time, until the 
 Lord come :" then, and not till then, " shall every man's work 
 be made manifest." 
 
 This does not of course hinder, but that Christians must see, 
 and mournfully condemn, gross and notorious sin and irreligion, 
 such works as those, of which we plainly read, that they who do 
 them shall not inherit God's kingdom; just as the husbandman, 
 though he cannot exactly foresee how this or that sample will 
 yield, knows when he sees an ear of corn thoroughly diseased with 
 blight or mildew. He is sure that can bear nothing, whether 
 other ears bear more or less. 
 
 Another thought, which Holy Scripture suggests to Christians 
 watching harvest work, is this : here we see the end and the re- 
 sult of a long course of providences on the part of Almighty 
 God, carried on in secret, in a manner unknown to us, but all 
 tending one way, and now at last bearing their fruit. Such is 
 the course of this world altogether, and of the Church or King- 
 dom of God in it. Our Lord has taught us so most expressly. 
 " So is the Kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into 
 the ground, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed 
 should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth 
 bringeth forth of itself, first the blade, then the ear, after that the 
 full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, im- 
 mediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come." 
 As surely as the sunshine and showers, the qualities of the air and 
 
224 god's threshing, 
 
 soil, are acting on the seeds and plants, and preparing them for 
 the harvest in a way secret to us ; so is the Almighty, by His 
 dealings with the world and the Church, preparing for the final 
 accomplishment of His great work. 
 
 And as we reasonably count it wicked and profane, to speak 
 a"-ainst Him on account of the weather which He sends, so let us 
 make up our minds to acquiesce in His dealings, to hold our peace 
 at His presence, in regard of all the other concerns of this world, 
 ■whether pubhc or private, whether a whole nation be concerned 
 in them, or only some one family ; whether they affect ourselves 
 or our friends. We may be sure that all tends in some unknown 
 way to the accomplishment of His great and holy will : there is but 
 one thing that we need be very anxious about, and that, by His 
 grace, depends entirely on ourselves : namely, where we shall be 
 ourselves found in that great day of ingathering. Look you well 
 to this first, and all other things, doubt it not, shall be added 
 unto you. 
 
 Neither are we to be cast down, if our trial cost us a good deal 
 of pain and self-denial. If we win the prize at last, all this will 
 seem little to us, or rather, it will increase our joy : as the hus- 
 bandman has a peculiar delight in harvest time, recollecting what 
 difficulties he .has overcome, and by how much thoughtful con- 
 trivance and laborious self-denial he has caused the stubborn 
 ground to become, under God's blessing, fruitful and kindly. 
 
 Of this also, the Scripture takes notice. " They that sow in 
 tears, shall reap in joy. He that now goeth on his way weeping, 
 and beareth forth good seed, shall doubtless come again with joy, 
 and bring his sheaves with him." 
 
 But the most overpowering and awful of all the thoughts 
 which the harvest suggests to a believing mind, is, that of the 
 threshing, or separation, which it leads to. As in common har- 
 vest, so in this great harvest of all, there will be tares to be 
 parted from among the wheat, chafl" to be winnowed away from 
 the grain. Thus the office of the Judge was described by His 
 Forerunner : " His fan is in His hand, and He will throughly 
 purge His floor, and will gather the wheat into His garner, but 
 will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." — " He will say to 
 the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in 
 bundles to burn them : but gather the wheat into My barn." 
 
AND THE CORN OF HIS FLOOR. 2-25 
 
 Then will be " discerning between the righteous and the wicked, 
 between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not," 
 when " the day cometh which shall burn as an oven, and the 
 proud, yea and all that do wickedly, shall be as stubble, and the 
 day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, 
 that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." Or as it is in 
 the well-known Psalm: "The ungodly shall be like the chaff, 
 which the wind scattereth away from the face of the earth. The 
 ungodly shall not be able to stand in the judgment, neither the 
 sinners in the congregation of the righteous." These, and many 
 more places of Scripture, represent to us the unsparing separation 
 which the power of God will make after the harvest of the earth 
 has been reaped ; a thing which we can hardly now conceive, 
 however true and certain we know it to be. Good and evil are 
 seemingly so mixed up, in our own consciences, alas ! as well as 
 in the world around us, that it is even beyond our imagination, 
 how the one should be so entirely separated from the other, as 
 we know they will be after the day of judgment. But so neither 
 can a child understand how the corn and weeds, which he sees 
 growing together, can be thoroughly parted asunder ; how the 
 good grain can be parted from the chaff and husks, which he 
 sees gathered in with it. Yet the crop is to be so treated ; the 
 child's ignorance makes no difference in that ; neither, because 
 we are unable to comprehend how, will the Great Husbandman 
 be the less able to separate and distinguish the saved from the 
 lost in that day. 
 
 And all that is lost, we read, shall be burned : there is no mid- 
 dle state between happiness and misery ; only the furnace of fire 
 for the tares and chaff, and the Lord's garner for the wheat. 
 
 Lose no time, I beseech you, in imagining, " How can these 
 thino-s be ?" but consider your own case, that you must yourself 
 be in the one company or the other ; and that the Almighty, by 
 a great miracle of His mercy, having given us our choice, we are 
 inexcusable, and at once guilty of death, if we do not choose life 
 with all our heart. 
 
 As the harvest is thus, on the one hand, a token of the punish- 
 ment prepared for the wicked, so it may help us to think worthily 
 of the joy prepared for Christ's obedient ones, a subject no less 
 awful and mysterious in its way. The corn, we know, is not 
 
226 god's threshing, 
 
 housed and thrashed that it may remaui in so many separate 
 grains, but that many grains being duly prepared, and mixed 
 into one loaf, it may so fulfil its purpose for the good of God's 
 creatures. Even so God has not made us to be happy, each 
 singly and apart from the rest : we must be incorporated into 
 one Body, the Body of Christ ; joined together, really and spi- 
 ritually, as members of His Church and kingdom. This union He 
 Himself represents to us under the figure of Bread ; partly, 
 I suppose, that we may understand how close and intimate it is ; 
 not like several limbs and joints compacted together, but like 
 drops of water or small portions of air, mutually running one 
 into another. " We, being many, are one Bread and one Body." 
 We are one Bread, by our union with Him who is the Life of our 
 souls ; one, because we all have one and the same spiritual Life, 
 from one Head, Jesus Christ, and are meant to be joined 
 together in nearer and closer participation of Him for ever. 
 
 And of this the Holy Communion is a token and pledge, and 
 the great mean, also, whereby God brings it to pass in this 
 world. As the Apostle goes on and says, " We are one Bread 
 and one Body : for we are all partakers of that one Bread." 
 The virtue of that holy thing, which the faithful receive in the 
 Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, is such, that it kneads, as it 
 were together, and forms into one loaf, one Body, one Christ, 
 the whole number of Christian people, in all places, and at all 
 times. And of this the Bread which the Priest duly offers on the 
 IjORd's holy altar or table is an emblem ; as the twelve loaves or 
 shew-bread which used to be placed on the table in the outer 
 Tabernacle, were an emblem of the twelve tribes of Israel duly 
 off'ering themselves to the Almighty ; not each person apart, 
 but in that union which God intended them to partake of. 
 
 Thus, as the works of the harvest and the threshing-floor were 
 meant to be to every one of us signs and remembrances of the 
 great and dreadful day, so the Bread, the Fruit of the harvest, is 
 the token and pledge of the blessed end of that day, to all who 
 have not forfeited their portion in Christ; Union with Him and 
 His Saints in His everlasting kingdom. 
 
 Finally, when the harvest is over, the husbandman's natural 
 thought must be, " Here is the chief work of this year done : it 
 is over, and cannot be recalled : if I have managed my ground 
 
AND THE CORN OF HIS FLOOR. 227 
 
 ill, and so made it less fruitful than it should be, I can but take 
 the consequences ; it is too late to think of amending it for this 
 season. Such thouglits as these may help us to represent to 
 ourselves the confusion and self-reproach of the slothful ones in 
 that harvest, after which there will be no seed-time, no months 
 of renewed labour, to make up for past negligence, no spring or 
 summer to provide for another autumn. Such a state of mind 
 the Prophet seems to have had in his thoughts, when in the 
 name of God's suffering people, full of remorses, but not truly 
 repenting, he cried out, " The harvest is past, the summer is 
 ended, and yet we are not saved." 
 
 What if this should be our case ? and it will be our case, if we 
 live not always in fear of it. We shall be chaff and not wheat, 
 the wind wUl carry us away, if we be not careful to maintain our 
 communion with Jesus Christ, by all holy desires, good coun- 
 sels, and Church ordinances ; and, above all, by strict keeping of 
 the commandments ; and by long, deep, bitter repentance, when 
 thev have been broken : and all this, as the yet more perfect and 
 only preparation for the Holy Communion of the Body and Blood 
 of Christ, which is itself the way to be one with Him hereafter 
 for ever. 
 
SERMON CXCIV. 
 
 ECONOMY A HELP TO FAITH ». 
 
 Matthew vi. 33. 
 
 " Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these 
 things shall be added unto you." 
 
 It might be asked, what are the things of which our Blessed 
 Lord is speaking in these remarkable words ? They are the 
 things which He has made most necessary for us here in this 
 short life ; meat, drink, and clothing ; along with which of course 
 we must understand all other like things ; I mean such as fuel, 
 shelter, or lodging, attendance and remedies in sickness and 
 weakness ; all things, in short, which may be properly called 
 " necessaries of life." 
 
 Our Blessed Master knew well how much our infirm nature 
 would be always taken up with the thought of these things, both 
 for ourselves and for those whom He has made near and dear to 
 us ; and He has most mercifully given us a rule, sufficient, if we 
 would truly practise it, to cure us of both sorrow and sin in all 
 such matters. He has promised us the necessaries of life on this 
 one condition, that we make His Kingdom and righteousness our 
 first care. He has promised, who is Truth itself : in this, as in 
 higher things, ofi"ering to us His peculiar gift. His peace, — the 
 
 ' Preached to a Friendly Society, in Whitsun week. 
 
ECONOMY A HELP TO FAITH. 229 
 
 peace of God, given not as the world giveth. The world pro- 
 mises us food and raiment, and freedom from care and anxiety 
 about it, on condition of our being worldly wise, " rising up 
 early and late taking rest, and eating the bread of carefulness :" 
 but our Lord promises us the same, and His blessing besides, on 
 this only condition, that we seek first His Kingdom and righte- 
 ousness. 
 
 Now food and raiment, support and relief, at such times as men 
 shall not be able to get them for themselves, are the verv objects 
 with a view to which all well constituted Friendly Societies are 
 formed. You are, in profession at least, here assembled to beg 
 God's blessing on your undertaking, and His grace, that it and 
 all your other works may be begun, continued, and ended in 
 Him. No words then of Holy Scripture can be better suited to 
 the present occasion, than the promise of our Lord in the text. 
 We may at once apply them as a kind of rule, whereby to judge 
 whether we are going on in a way pleasing in His sight. If we 
 and our Societies are seeking before all, God's Kingdom and His 
 righteousness, then may we humbly hope for His blessing on 
 them ; not so in any other case. 
 
 Now I think one may perceive in the notion itself of well- 
 ordered Friendly or Provident Societies, certain helps towards 
 seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, which may 
 encourage us to hope that He may look on them with grace and 
 approbation. 
 
 There must be some little self-denial and forethought, for a 
 labouring man to belong to such a society ; more especially if 
 times go hard with him, and he has many mouths to provide for. 
 He must often do without things which he would be glad to 
 possess, and save money which he would be glad to spend. Now 
 self-denial and forethought are good things; they are, as far as 
 they go, exercises of faith ; and when any one of us tries to 
 practise them, even but in small matters, from a sense of duty, 
 we have good hope that God's blessing will rest upon that man. 
 The Holy Spirit will accept his little offering, if he spoil it not 
 by wilful sin in other respects, and will give him grace to do 
 higher and better things. 
 
 Then the turn of mind which leads people to join such societies 
 is undoubtedly so far good and Christian, as it tends to industry, 
 
 VOL. VI. „ 
 
230 ECONOMY A HELP TO FAITH. 
 
 prudence, sobriety, and order, rather than to idleness and folly, riot 
 and revelling. Young men, at first setting out in life, find them- 
 selves always in the condition of one to whom two ways offer 
 themselves at once : the broad way which leadeth unto destruction, 
 and the narrow way which leadeth unto life ; the way of pleasure, 
 so called, and the way of duty ; and it seems plain, upon the 
 whole, that Benefit Societies, well managed, are an encourage- 
 ment to those who are inclined to take the right path rather than 
 the wrong. If they think at all, it keeps in their minds the re- 
 collection of sickness and accidents, to which they are so liable 
 every moment, and of old age, to which they all hope to come. 
 It helps them to know, if they have good and frugal resolutions, 
 where they may find others to keep them in countenance. As far 
 as it goes, it tends to remove them from among the wild and 
 thoughtless part of mankind, and to settle them among the pru- 
 dent, and regular, and considerate. 
 
 Then it is very particularly to be considered, that these Friendly 
 Societies are in their intention not only prudent, but benevolent 
 and charitable things. Every person who subscribes, knows that 
 very likely he may never receive any of his own money back again. 
 He may be taken off suddenly ; and besides, for aught he knows, 
 the rules of the Society may not be so well framed, but that it 
 may fail, and be unable to help him, just at the time when he 
 needs it. If notwithstanding this uncertainty he subscribes with 
 a cheerful heart, saying, " If I never need it, so much the better; 
 I will not grudge it to those who do :" this again seems to be a 
 sort of temper which God, it may be hoped, will bless and en- 
 courage : it partakes of faith and trust in Him, and of a kindly, 
 open heart towards our neighbour. 
 
 You will of course understand, that when I speak of these as 
 so many reasons for thinking well of Friendly Societies, I mean 
 such societies as are well ordered and conducted : such as really, 
 and not in words only, discourage rioting and drunkenness and 
 revelry, profane, filthy, or discontented talk, or quarrelling and 
 disputing, where all should be brotherly love. We know it is 
 but too easy, in this or any other company of mortal men, for 
 such bad ways and passions to get the better ; and then, of course, 
 all that has been said in their praise will not hinder them from 
 doing more harm than good ; and so much the more, as evil is 
 
ECONOMY A HELP TO FAITH. 231 
 
 always made worse, when people follow a multitude to do it. 
 Does it not indeed seem something outrageous, and inviting the 
 bad Spirits to do us a mischief, when we contradict our own 
 professions so entirely ? if a Provident Society, for example, 
 should prove a school of drunkenness and extravagance, or a 
 Friendly Society a place of bitter complainings and strife ? I 
 suppose, that however httle we may be accustomed to look on 
 such professions in a serious light, we shall find at the last, that 
 they cannof altogether pass for nothing ; they will tell against us, 
 as showing at least that we knew what our duty was : we shall 
 give account of them at the day of judgment, as of all our idle 
 and useless words. 
 
 However, such ill conduct, if it were to be found among us, 
 would be no fault of our Society, which is set up, in profession at 
 least, for the purpose of promoting the honour of Almighty God, 
 and the good of one another. I say, it will be no fault of our 
 Society, as long as we resolutely set our faces against all mis- 
 conduct, and keep boldly to our own rules ; considering it but a 
 false good-nature, which allows people to act as they please, when 
 they are in a way to do themselves serious harm both in soul and 
 body. 
 
 Let us resolve to be thus seasonably strict, and then we may 
 hope to find that the blessing of Almighty God rests on our 
 undertaking, as in other respects, so in this, which I have kept for 
 the last, and which I suppose to be, perhaps, the greatest benefit 
 of a society of this kind ; namely, that so far as it goes, it puts a 
 person out of worldly care, and sets him at liberty to serve God 
 with all his heart. If you belong to such an association as this, 
 you are, or may be, so far, freed from pining care and anxiety, 
 about what is to become of you in case of your falling ill, or 
 living to be past your work. You are so far better able to fulfil 
 our Lord's earnest exhortation, " Take no thought for the mor- 
 row." You have less excuse for permitting yourself to be inter- 
 rupted, whilst you are at your prayers, with considerations how 
 you shall be able to get your bread if you become unable to work. 
 You have this encouragement to cast all your care upon Him, 
 that He has already permitted you to take care of yourself in a 
 matter of so great consequence, as the providing some support 
 and reUef, at least for your sickness and old age. So much the 
 
 r2 
 
0,32 ECONOMY A HELP TO FAITH. 
 
 worse and more ungrateful is it, if you allow yourself to be dis- 
 contented, and repine, as if you were forsaken in the world. 
 
 We read in the Acts of the Apostles, how the first generation 
 of Christians, those who saw the Holy Spirit descend, as at 
 this sacred time, on the heads of Christ's chosen messengers ; — 
 how they entered into the mind of our Saviour, and tried to 
 fulfil His commandment of taking no thought. 
 
 They saw that the more people had, the more anxious they 
 are, generally speaking, about their worldly goods and affairs ; 
 and they remembered what counsel our Blessed Saviour had 
 given to one, who, having great wealth, had asked His advice 
 about obtaining eternal life : "If thou wilt be perfect, sell all 
 that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have trea- 
 sure in heaven, and come, take up the Cross, and follow Me." 
 The first Christians understood this as advice given to those who 
 would be perfect ; and it was their earnest desire to be perfect : 
 they were smitten with a deep love for Jesus Christ and His 
 Cross ; and therefore, when the opportunity was given, they joy- 
 fully took Him at His word, and cast off all the burthen of earthly 
 goods and earthly cares, in order to wait on Him, and spread His 
 Gospel in the world : " As many as were possessed of lands and 
 houses, sold them, and brought the price of the lands, and laid it 
 at the Apostles' feet." They put it into the hands of their 
 Pastors, that is, into the hands of Christ, in order to make 
 a common stock or treasury, out of which " distribution was 
 made unto all men, as many as had need." They themselves, 
 from that time, were to have their share out of the common 
 stock : they had no longer any care about private property, to 
 entangle and hinder and draw them back in the great work of 
 spreading the Gospel, wheresoever Christ's Apostles should 
 send them : they had sought first, before all else put together, 
 " the kingdom of God and His righteousness," and now there 
 could be no doubt that all necessary things would be given them 
 over and above. 
 
 Thus did the first Christians of Jerusalem, and many after them 
 in many ages and countries, follow our Blessed Saviour's coun- 
 sels of perfection. They sacrificed all that they had, to take up 
 the Cross and follow Him ; and for one part of their reward, they 
 were freed from bitter anxious thoughts, as long as they lived in 
 
ECONOMY A HELP TO FAITH. 233 
 
 this world, about " what they should eat, or what they should 
 drink, or wherewithal they should be clothed." Christ pro- 
 vided for them out of the treasury of His Church, as He provides 
 for the birds of the air, without their troubling or caring about 
 the matter : they had no need to sow nor reap, nor gather into 
 barns. 
 
 Well is it in our days too, and in all days while the Church lasts 
 in the world it will be well, for those who can find in their 
 hearts to follow so glorious an example : but what if it be not in 
 your reach nor in mine, nor such as to be followed exactly by 
 ordinary Christians .'' are we to judge that you and I and ordinary 
 Christians have no concern in it at all ? that we cannot follow it 
 in any sense, or in any degree whatever ? Not so, surely, my 
 brethren. It is in your power, and in mine, and in the power of 
 all Christians, to pray for and practise a holy trust in God, a holy 
 indifi'erence to the concerns of this life. It is, for example, in the 
 power of all who belong to such societies as this, when they have 
 diligently done their work, and kept themselves from dishonest 
 debt, and made their regular payment into the stock of the 
 society, to say to themselves, " Now I will not fret nor be careful 
 about meat and drink, and such things : I have a provision to 
 look to, scanty indeed, but, by God's mercy, it is sure to be 
 enough, if I have but courage to take Him at His word :" that 
 word is, " Cast thy burthen upon the Lord, and He will nourish 
 thee." 
 
 Well then, we will, so may it please Him, cast our burthen and 
 care altogether upon Him : we will seek His kingdom, and the 
 righteousness thereof, first and foremost ; we will make it our 
 chief concern. We will not let our work hinder us in our 
 prayers : let us be never so hurried in the morning, never so 
 weary in the evening, we will not go out to our task, nor lie 
 down in our bed, without earnestly imploring a blessing from 
 Him in the Name of Jesus Christ. Of course, cares and 
 temptations will come : the world cannot be without them : it 
 will seem sometimes as if trouble was coming on, and the enemy 
 will attack us, as did Job's wife of old : " Dost thou still retain 
 thine integrity, thine entire patience and trust in thy Saviour ? 
 thou hadst better at once curse God and die ;" but when such 
 thoughts come on us, we shall know from whom they come, and. 
 
234 ECONOMY A HELP TO FAITH. 
 
 by the grace of a Mightier One, we will put them away at once. 
 So also if he tempt us with the thought of bettering our condition 
 by any dishonest way, then again we will remember our pui-pose, 
 to seek God and His righteousness ; and we will abhor the 
 gain, be it little or much, which is to be got by cheating or 
 pilfering, by deceit in buying or selling, or by neglect of work 
 and duty. 
 
 It is God, and not man, my Christian brethren and friends, 
 who promises you, from His throne in heaven, that "if you do 
 these things, ye shall never fall :" your portion will be sure in 
 that kingdom, which, if you are faithful Christians, you have 
 well and wisely preferred to the whole world. 
 
 And as you go on longer and more steadily in this good way, 
 endeavouring from day to day, and from week to week, to say 
 your prayers more earnestly, and to give yourself up more en- 
 tirely to the obedience of Christ, you will by degrees come to 
 understand more and more of the high and heavenly blessings 
 which the Saviour of the world set before you, when He bade 
 you " seek the kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof." 
 That kingdom is the Church of God's Saints, begun here on 
 earth, but to be made perfect and glorious in heaven. That 
 righteousness is the righteousness of Jesus Christ our Saviour, 
 thrown like a bright robe over us, entering as a new life into us, 
 when we are first made members of Him ; and that, as the 
 Catechism tells us, is at Holy Baptism. Then we are first made 
 partakers of the heavenly righteousness of God's kingdom, but it 
 is renewed and brightened, and made more perfect, by the Holy 
 Communion of His Body and Blood, and by His blessing on our 
 humble obedience and penitence, and on the holy ordinances of 
 His Church, as often as we worthily receive them, from our 
 cradle to our grave. 
 
 You see, then, it is no small thing which Jesus Christ sets 
 before you, when He offers you the righteousness of His king- 
 dom. It is indeed close communion with Him ; it is being one 
 with Him, as He is with His Father. 
 
 Who, then, can be happier than a Christian labouring man, 
 living and dying by this blessed rule : " Seek first the kingdom 
 of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added 
 unto you ?" As long as he lives, he gets God's blessing out of 
 
ECONOMY A HELP TO FAITH. 235 
 
 his mother earth, in peace and content, without tormenting care ; 
 and when he departs, he dies not, but falls asleep in the bosom of 
 the same earth, in sure and certain hope of an infinite blessing in 
 heaven. May such be our happy, though most undeserved por- 
 tion, through Jesus Christ our Lord ! 
 
SERMON CXCV. 
 
 THE UNSPEAKABLE GIFT '. 
 
 2 Cor. ix. 15. 
 " Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable Gift." 
 
 The Gift, the free Gift, the Gift of God, are all of them ex- 
 pressions occurring in the New Testament with a higher and 
 more mysterious meaning, than we are generally apt to take 
 notice of. We are accustomed, as we read, to think only of 
 this or that mercy, which in the particular part of the Scrip- 
 tures happens to come into our mind : especially, I suppose, 
 when " the free gift " is mentioned, we are apt to think most 
 of this one great thing, namely, the pardon and forgiveness 
 of our sins, by the death and passion of our Lord and Saviour. 
 And truly that is an unspeakable gift, and by it alone are we 
 made capable df any other mercy or gift at all : yet it seems 
 very plain, that pardon and forgiveness by the Blood of our 
 crucified Lord is not the very gift, of which so much is said in 
 St. Paul's epistles and elsewhere. That gift rather means, the 
 Holy Spirit of the Father and the Son, poured into the hearts 
 of Christian men to make them partakers of Christ. It is the 
 Lord God, the Blessed Comforter, dwelling in our hearts to 
 unite us to the Father and the Son : according to His own pro- 
 mise : " If a man love Me, he will keep My words, and My 
 
 ' Preached at a collection for Church-building. 
 
THE UNSPEAKABLE GIFT. 237 
 
 Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make 
 Our abode with him." 
 
 To make this plain to you, I will bring forward all the places, 
 where the gift of God is mentioned, and you will see how well 
 they suit with this meaning, some of them not at all admitting of 
 any other. 
 
 The first, and the key to all the rest, is our Lord's own saying 
 to the woman of Samaria : " If thou knewest the gift of God, and 
 who it is that saith unto thee. Give Mb to drink, thou wouldest 
 have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water." 
 The gift of God then is the same as the living water which our 
 Lord here and elsewhere speaks of: and this, we know by St. 
 John's own words, " He spake of the Spirit, which they that be- 
 lieve on Him should receive'." The Spirit of God, received in 
 Holy Baptism, is the Living Water which purifies the whole man : 
 and " as every good gift, and every perfect gift cometh down 
 from the Father of Lights," so this in a more especial way, in a 
 way which no words can express, is, as our Lord Himself teaches, 
 " The gift of God." 
 
 So it is called repeatedly in the Acts of the Apostles. St. 
 Peter on the day of Pentecost, inviting his hearers into the 
 Church, says, " Repent and be baptized every one of you, and ye 
 shall receive the gift of the Holt Ghost '." Afterwards, when 
 he had preached to Cornelius, they who came with him were as- 
 tonished, " because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the 
 gift of the Holy Ghost." And giving an account of it after- 
 wards to the Christians of Jerusalem, he uses the word "gift" in 
 the same sense : " God gave those Gentiles the like gift as He 
 did unto us." 
 
 So to Simon the Sorcerer, who wanted to buy for money such • 
 spiritual powers as the Apostles had, a curse was spoken by the 
 same St. Peter, because he thought " the gift of God might be 
 purchased for money *." Here again the Holy Spirit is described 
 as being the gift of God. St. Paul too, many times speaks the 
 word in the same sense. As to the Ephesians : " Unto every one 
 of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of 
 Christ : wherefore He saith, when He ascended up on high. He 
 
 » John vii. 39. ' Acts ii. 28 ; x. 45 ; xi. 17- * Acts viii. 20. 
 
238 THE UNSPEAKABLE GIFT. 
 
 led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men '." This gift of 
 Christ, bestov?ed after the Ascension, in sundry ways to sundry 
 persons, what is it but the holy and promised Comforter ? No 
 doubt then, the same Divine Person is intended, where the same 
 Apostle speaks a little before of his having been made a minister 
 of the Gospel, " according to the gift of the grace of God given 
 unto him." 
 
 It is the same again, where to the Romans he speaks of " the 
 grace of God, and the gift by grace :" first, that is, of His free 
 pardon and favour obtained for us by the Blood of Christ, and 
 then of the actual gift of His Spirit, whereby that favour is sealed 
 and brought home to everyone; and where just after he mentions 
 certain persons, as receiving "abundance of grace and of the gift 
 of righteousness ;" the gift of righteousness plainly is, true holi- 
 ness poured into the hearts of men by the Holy Spirit. 
 
 Lastly, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, setting forth the great 
 danger of wilful sin after baptism, his word is, " It is impossible 
 for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the 
 heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, if 
 they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance^ :" thus 
 again intimating, that to taste of the heavenly gift is to be made 
 partaker of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 These which I have now gone through, are all the places 
 in the New Testament, in which the gift of God, or the 
 heavenly gift, is spoken of, besides that one in the Text: 
 "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift." It seems 
 almost certain, therefore, that here also the sanctifying Spirit 
 is meant : the Lord and Giver of life, the gift which includes 
 in itself all other gifts. Well, indeed, is it called unspeakable : 
 for what tongue of man or angel can speak worthily of so 
 great a thing as this ? God the Holy Ghost, the Good Spirit, in 
 whose unity the Son liveth and reigneth with the Father : — that 
 He should come and make His Tabernacle in the souls and bodies 
 of the children of Adam, of man His enemy : that He should 
 vouchsafe to abide there for years, striving against sin and cor- 
 ruption, and changing the heart more and more into the holiness 
 of our Lord and Saviour Himself ! Such a thing could never 
 be thought or imagined, much less can it be uttered by the tongue 
 5 Eph. iv. 7 ; iii. 7- Rom. v. 15. I?. « Heb. vi. 4. 
 
THE UNSPEAKABLE GIFT. '239 
 
 of man : but the more unspeakable it is, the morS it should fill 
 our hearts ; and the text seems to teach us, that we do well to 
 remember it, and mix it up with all our thanksgivings to the 
 Most High, for any of the lesser mercies, which make part of it 
 or flow from it ; just as we make mention of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, His merits and sufferings, in all our petitions to God. 
 
 For how is it that the Unspeakable Gift comes to be mentioned 
 in this part of St. Paul's letter ? He had just been speaking of a 
 collection which he had sent to have made in several Churches at 
 a distance, for the benefit of the poorer Christians at Jerusalem. 
 He had been rejoicing in the bountiful and loving temper which 
 the Christians had shown, among whom that collection was made. 
 And he says concerning that kind of charity, that is, alms offered 
 in the Church for Christ's sake, that it carries with it a great 
 blessing, over and above the immediate benefit of the persons 
 for whom it is raised. "The administration of this service," he 
 says, " not only supplieth the necessities of the Saints, but is 
 abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God." It lifts up the 
 hearts of those who receive it, with all thankfulness to Christ 
 our Saviour, for many great and signal blessings at once. 
 
 " They glorify God," he says, " for your professed subjection 
 to the Gospel of Christ :" that is, " the Christians of the Mother 
 Church of Jerusalem, where the Gospel was first preached, rejoice 
 in the alms which you send to them, not only for the relief they 
 themselves get by it, but also because of the proof it gives them 
 of the wide growth of the Gospel ; that you Gentiles, so far away, 
 should nevertheless be Christians, feeling yourselves brethren 
 with them, and ready to give abundantly for their wants, as mem- 
 bers of the same body. And as they thank God for making you 
 Christians, so they pray earnestly in your behalf; they have a 
 longing desire to know you and do you good, which can only be 
 satisfied in this world by earnestly praying for you." 
 
 It is a beautiful and glorious picture, which the holy Apostle 
 here sets before us, of one part of the Communion of Saints. 
 Christians as far removed from one another as Jerusalem was 
 from Corinth, not speaking the same language, not knowing one 
 another's names, not in the least likely to meet ever at all in this 
 world, yet with all their hearts trying to do one another good, 
 and obtain a blessing each for his distant brethren by his prayers. 
 
240 THE UNSPEAKABLE GIFT. 
 
 No wonder that the thought coming strongly before him, of 
 members of Christ so distant in the flesh, yet so closely bound 
 together in the spirit, their prayers wafted up by their several 
 Angels, and meeting and mingling together, like clouds of in- 
 cense before the mercy- seat in heaven : no wonder that the 
 sound of their many voices, all praising God and blessing one 
 another, full of all love and thankfulness : no wonder, I say, that 
 the thought and hearing of these things filled the affectionate 
 Apostle with that eager joy, that he could not, if one may say so, 
 contain himself, but cried out with all his heart, " Thanks be unto 
 God for His unspeakable gift." 
 
 Because this holy agreement and fellow-feeling, of so many 
 Christians in so many different quarters, was a kind of token, to 
 the very eye, of their all being inhabited by the same Holy Spi- 
 rit, all made living stones in the same true Temple of the Lord, 
 all made partakers of the same great unspeakable gift. It was 
 like the rushing wind, filling all the house ; or like the fiery 
 tongues, settling on every one : it brought home to the believing 
 soul, with irresistible force, the gracious presence of the Com- 
 forter. 
 
 Now the same holy and adoring joy which then filled the 
 heart of St. Paul, is even now offered, by the grace and pro- 
 vidence of Almighty God, to the members of His holy universal 
 Church, as often as they are invited to give alms in the old way, 
 offering them in the Church, for some good and charitable pur- 
 pose, far away perhaps from themselves. For though so many 
 years have passed, we trust that we are still, by God's especial 
 grace, in the same body, the same household of God, as St. 
 Paul and his Corinthians were ; and if we are of the same body, 
 then we are sure the same Spirit is among us ; nay (most awful 
 is the thought). He is within us, to move men's hearts one 
 towards another ; to cause us to be of one mind in an house ; to 
 make us take interest in the wants of our brethren at a distance, 
 not simply out of human pity, but because they are brethren, 
 " faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit." 
 
 We are not in general used, I should fear, to think of Church 
 collections of alms in this sort of w^ay. Too many account 
 it just a convenient method of gathering what little can be spared, 
 and go away and think no more of it. 
 
THE UNSPEAKABLE GIFT. 241 
 
 But as nothing which is done in God's house ought to be 
 thought so lightly of, so we have seen that a charitable gathering 
 there is such a thing, as, in the first and best days, filled the heart 
 of the zealous Apostle, and caused it to overflow with joy. We 
 are bidden to be followers of him, as he also was of Christ. 
 Let us try to have such thoughts of a Church gathering as 
 he had : faint and low they must be in comparison with his, yet 
 they may be the same kind of thoughts. We may use ourselves 
 to consider these occasions, as each being one among the ten 
 thousand ways, in which our Lord and His Spirit show them- 
 selves in His Church. 
 
 All Church gatherings may be thus considered : but in this 
 ■which we have to-day recommended to us, there is something 
 over and above this. 
 
 For, in the first place, it is recommended to us by our Bishop : 
 and the approbation of their Bishop is always a special comfort 
 to good Christians, and his presence and direction is a token of 
 Christ's. 
 
 Next, the particular purpose of to-day's gathering, is to raise a 
 sum for building and enlarging Churches within this bishoprick 
 to which we belong. Now, a Church, a building set apart and 
 hallowed by the Bishop's prayers and blessings, for solemn pray- 
 ers, and teaching, and administration of the Sacraments, is one of 
 the plainest outward signs of the presence of the Holy Spirit 
 among us : being the very place where our Lord has promised to 
 be, since there, whoever are gathered together, are surely ga- 
 thered in His Name. 
 
 When we ask an oflFering, therefore, for the building of 
 Churches, we do in a more particular manner remind one another 
 of the holy unspeakable Gift. Our very asking means no less 
 than this : " You have been so many years members of the Body 
 of Christ, endued with His Spirit ; you have come here from 
 time to time, trusting to His promise, have heard His holy word, 
 have received His blessed Sacraments ; and now some of your 
 brethren at a distance, who for one cause or another have less 
 share in these outward and visible means of grace, seek to you 
 for aid to be brought nearer their Saviour. 
 
 Perhaps they are inhabitants of some crowded town, where 
 even if they desired to worship God in His Church, they would 
 
242 THE UNSPEAKABLE GIFT. 
 
 find it almost impossible to gain admittance, so few and so small 
 are the holy buildings in comparison of the number of people. 
 
 Perhaps (and this is the commoner case, in our part of England 
 particularly) they might indeed find room if they came to Church; 
 but the Church is so far from them, that it would be a great 
 charity to help them to one at their own-doors. 
 
 Perhaps their Church is old and decayed, or so unworthily and 
 meanly fitted up, as to be quite unworthy of the house of the 
 Most High ; so that to let it stay as it is, would be bringing on 
 us the rebuke of the Lord by His Prophet : " Is it time for you, 
 O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house to lie 
 waste ?" 
 
 Surely in each of these cases there is a call on us to feel for 
 our brethren, who are less favourably circumstanced than ourselves. 
 We know, or ought to know, the blessing of having the Church 
 close to us, of being able, without much trouble, to find a place in 
 it when we go there ; therefore we ought to make a point of 
 sparing something for our less fortunate brethren, who have less 
 of these helps to draw near God, these tokens of the unspeak- 
 able gift. It is but doing as we would be done by. 
 
 A good and fair beginning has been made in the work ; such 
 as, by God's blessing, may help to save many souls ; and one way 
 of obtaining that blessing on what has been already done will be, 
 not to grow weary in well-doing, but still to go on ofitring of 
 what we can spare. 
 
 A great deal remains to be done. For taking the whole num- 
 ber of persons in the Diocese, and comparing it with the whole 
 number of places in the several Churches, it appears that there 
 is not room for one-fourth of the people. And another thing to 
 be considered is, that in many crowded places nothing like this 
 quantity of room can be found. In one town, where there are forty- 
 five thousand, and more, there are places for only seven thousand 
 four hundred. Who can doubt that it will be a real charity to 
 help in providing for such cases as that .'' or a real act of devotion, 
 to give something, as David did, out of regard to God's honour 
 and glory, for making God's service more magnifical, and wor- 
 thier of a Being so great and glorious ? 
 
 And may I not be allowed to say, that those especially seem 
 called on to contribute to this fund, who have had the benefit of 
 
THE UNSPEAKABLE GIFT. 243 
 
 Churches long ago builded for them, without being called on to 
 
 contribute any thing themselves. 
 And this indeed is the case generally with regard to the 
 
 inhabitants of any country which God's Providence long ago 
 made Christian. As the children there born are made mem- 
 bers of Christ before they can know or chuse any thing* 
 so when they grow up, they find a holy place made ready for 
 their worship, as part of a regular sacred inheritance, without 
 any cost or labour of their own. Thus, if they be at all 
 thoughtful persons, the Almighty brings home to them the 
 fact of their election ;• their very outward eyes, among the first 
 things they see, are made aware of this great and distinguishing 
 mercy, that they are chosen in Christ out of the world, to be 
 made partakers of His holiness and salvation, while so many 
 others are left in darkness and the shadow of death. It is sup- 
 posed that not above one in four of those who now live on the 
 earth are called to be outwardly and nominally Christians. All 
 that we see are so, and therefore too many of us have thought- 
 lessly esteemed it a matter of course, and forgotten to be duly 
 thankful for it. Let us not be always so childish. Let us realize 
 to ourselves, and never forget, that our being Christians at all is 
 an instance of mysterious favour towards us, denied to the far 
 greater part of our fellow creatures, and vouchsafed to us, our 
 friends, kindred, and countrymen, of God's free and sovereign 
 grace, surely without any desert of our own. The more we 
 meditate on this plain truth, and bring it home to ourselves, the 
 greater surely will be our fear, lest we fall short in our acknow- 
 ledgments of His merciful election. The less we ourselves had 
 to do with the first foundation of these our Churches, or with 
 our own admission to them, the more earnestly, as it seems 
 to me, would a right-minded person, a man having true faith, lay 
 hold of all opportunities to praise and thank God for the gift 
 of His Spirit in His Church, not by words only, but by some free 
 and cheerful offering. 
 
 Only let us take care that what we give, be given reverently; 
 not merely given, but ofi'ered, with true and real thought of the 
 Awful Presence we are in; and that it be not offered, as I fear 
 sometimes happens, with a heathenish mind, as though alms had 
 some power to make up for sins in some other kind, and prove in 
 
244 THE UNSPEAKABLE GIFT. 
 
 themselves satisfactory to Almighty God, Again, that it be 
 offered thankfully, not grudgingly ; devoutly, not lightly and at 
 random : and that whilst we are sparing an alms to Churches else- 
 where, we lose not the blessing which those alms might have 
 hoped for, by neglecting our own Church, or coming to it pro- 
 fanely. 
 
SERMON CXCVI. 
 
 PAST MERCIES, A PLEDGE OF MERCIES TO COME. 
 
 Philip, i. 6. 
 
 " Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work 
 in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." 
 
 Those whom the grace and good providence of God has led to 
 think at all of their own spiritual condition, are generally very 
 earnest in seeking out "comfortable texts," — passages of Scripture 
 which fill them with pleasant hopes of God's forgiveness and 
 favour towards them. It should seem as if this Epistle to the 
 Philippians were written in part with express purpose of meeting 
 this our natural desire, and supplying comfort to sick souls. It 
 is an Epistle full of consolation from beginning to end ; yet full 
 of warning and instruction too. It is full of consolation, as 
 might be expected from an epistle to that church, which of all to 
 whom St. Paul wrote, appears to have received the Gospel the 
 most faithfully and affectionately from the very first. The 
 Epistle is also full of warning and instruction, as being written 
 in evil times ; times when, besides their own natural corruption, 
 Christians were on every side beset with especial snares and 
 perils. Both comfort and warning may be drawn largely from 
 this, the very first sentence of the Epistle : the comfort is plainly 
 spoken out ; the warning is not darkly hinted. 
 
 " I thank my God," says the Apostle, " upon every remembrance 
 of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request 
 with joy, for your fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until 
 now ; being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun 
 
 VOL. VI. s 
 
246 PAST MERCIES, 
 
 a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." 
 He does not know how to say enough of the joy he had in thinking 
 of them ; of the earnest welcome they gave to the Gospel at first, 
 and of their steadiness, continuing still to profess it, for all the 
 persecution and tribulation they had to endure. How the Philip- 
 pians first received the Gospel, we know from the sixteenth chapter 
 of the Acts of the Apostles. It began from the house of a woman 
 named Lydia, whose heart the Lord opened first of all to attend 
 to those things that were spoken of Paul. But after a short 
 time, the multitude rose up against him : he was beaten and im- 
 prisoned, with much shame, but God opened the prison doors by 
 an earthquake, and the heathen jailor being converted and bap- 
 tized, and the heathen magistrates alarmed, the Apostle was, 
 for that time, allowed to depart free and safe. Thus the 
 Philippians " received the word in much affliction, with joy of the 
 Holy Ghost." And as they received it, so they kept it, rejoicing 
 to communicate with the Apostle, both in his bonds and in his 
 poverty. These were the men to whom the Apostle was speak- 
 ing, when he said, " He was confident of this, that he which 
 had begun a good work in them would perform it until the day 
 of Jesus Christ." The comfort and encouragement of these 
 words is quite plain, as I said before : to be praised so earnestly 
 by such a man as St. Paul, speaking by the Holy Spirit of God, 
 and to have him express such strong hopes of their continual 
 improvement and final salvation, must have been as comfortable, 
 as encouraging, as any words they could hear in this world. 
 
 But if they duly considered the words, they must have per- 
 ceived them to be words of warning also. For, first of all, 
 affer all they had done, the Apostle gives them to understand, 
 that he considered them as only having made a beginning. Yet 
 they had done what most men would consider as very great 
 things indeed. They had clung to St. Paul, or rather to his 
 Master, through several years of shame and danger, and had 
 been more earnest and forward than any other church in contri- 
 buting to supply his necessities. Should the like trying times 
 occur again, which of us all would not praise himself, and think 
 he had done great things, if he came any where near their 
 exertions? Yet, behold, their exertions were but a beginning. 
 
 Another point of warning hinted in the words of the text is 
 
A PLEDGE OF MERCIES TvO COME. 247 
 
 this : that the whole credit of the good work wrought in the 
 Philippians is ascribed by St. Paul to God Almighty, none of it 
 to themselves. He which hath begun a good work in you, He, 
 and no other, I trust, will perforin it. Plainly, he wished them 
 to be thoroughly aware, how very dangerous and destructive 
 it would be, should they once begin to value themselves on their 
 own growth in grace, and count it their own work, and not the 
 work of Him who alone can sanctify souls. The tone of the 
 whole verse is as if he had said, " I see in you a good and hopeful 
 beginning, such a beginning as fills me with joyful expectation ; 
 but remember, I beseech you, that it is but a beginning, and 
 remember, too, that it is not your's, but God's. For on your 
 bearing these things in mind will depend the fulfilment of the 
 good work, — your perfection and glorification in the day of Jesus 
 Christ." 
 
 The lesson which this verse especially seems to hold out to all 
 Christians is this : That it should be our comfort, as it is our 
 duty, to consider the past favours of God Almighty as so many 
 pledges for the future, so many tokens of His kind intentions 
 towards us. 
 
 St. Paul was confident, that the good work of God, in those 
 his beloved Philippian converts, would be performed, that is, 
 carried on to end in glory, in the day when all works shall have 
 an end. Why was St. Paul confident of this ? Besides other 
 reasons which he might have, this very thing made him confident ; 
 namely, that God had begun to work in them. St. Paul felt 
 thus with regard to the Philippians ; and why should not all 
 Christians feel the same, in respect of themselves, and of their 
 brethren, in whom they see or feel the mercies of God } Why 
 should we stand loitering and lingering, accounting this duty too 
 hard, that temptation too strong, such a commandment too high 
 and spiritual, such an example too perfect to be followed .'' Why 
 should we not, one and all, thank Gop, and take courage, both 
 in respect of ourselves and others, recollecting what reason we 
 have to be sure of God's gracious mind and purpose ? 
 
 The ground of such thankful confidence must be, that all im- 
 provement, all spiritual blessings, come of God, and not of our- 
 selves. For every man may judge, if he will, by every day's sad 
 experience, how vain it would be to trust in himself. If your 
 
 s 2 
 
248 PAST MERCIES, 
 
 growth in grace, such as it is, were your own work, you would 
 indeed have httle reason to hope for any long continuance of it. 
 For you know how frail your own works are, how unsteady 
 your good resolutions, how soon, when you are left to yourself, 
 you allow your good habits to wear away, and evil ones to get 
 the dominion over you. Every one who watches his own heart 
 at all must know enough of this, from continual experience, to 
 hinder him from having the least confidence in any good begin- 
 nings of his own. 
 
 But now we know that we are not in our own hands, but in 
 His hands, who never can change, Who is the same yesterday, 
 to-day, and for ever. " God is not as man, that He should lie, 
 nor as the son of man, that He should repent. Hath He said, 
 and shall He not do it ? or hath He spoken, and shall He not 
 make it good ?" We are sure, then, that when He begins, He 
 will also make an end ; His power cannot fail, nor His will con- 
 tradict itself: when, therefore, in His power and mercy He has 
 plainly begun to work men's spiritual good, we have all the 
 reason we can have in this world to hope the very best for them ; 
 all the reason in the world to take courage in doing them all the 
 good we can. 
 
 For example : when by the Providence of God a child is born 
 in a Christian country, it is a sign that God would have him 
 baptized, and new-born in the Church of Christ. When he is 
 baptized, that is a token that God means him all the blessings of 
 the Gospel. Nobody need despair of him, nor think his pains 
 thrown away in labouring to teach or correct that child, to re- 
 strain him in evil or encourage him in good. Child or man, 
 how froward soever he may be, he is one whom our Lord has 
 sealed for His own, so far as to reckon him one of His own 
 chosen people and Church on earth ; nay, more. He has made 
 him a member of Himself : and this surely is sign enough of 
 God's gracious purpose towards him, and reason enough for all 
 who love Christ to hope against hope in endeavouring to bring 
 him to God. 
 
 Again : our Saviour has trusted His Church with the seal of 
 Confirmation also, for a further token of His having begun and 
 still continuing, in each of her faithful children, the work of their 
 spiritual improvement. The Spirit which is given to believing 
 
A PLEDGE OF MERCIES TO COME. 249 
 
 and obedient souls, by laying on of the Bishop's hands, is the 
 Spirit of ghostly strength, of Christian knowledge, and of the 
 the fear of the Lord. And whenever, at any future time, a cloud 
 comes over your mind, and you are inclined to doubt whether, 
 towards you, God has not forgotten to be gracious, (I speak now 
 to those only who have been, by God's Providence, duly con- 
 firmed,) let me beseech you, in those dark and dispiriting thoughts, 
 to turn your minds to that moment when the hand of God's 
 chosen servant was stretched out over you, to bless you in His 
 Name ; and the prayer pronounced, that you might continue His 
 for ever. Be sure, it was a special token of His mercy : of His 
 mercy, who cannot change. Accept it as such, and make it a rea- 
 son for cheerful hope, and watchful, humble obedience. Whatever 
 your backslidings have since been, your having been confirmed 
 by laying on of the Bishop's hands is one token of God's pardon 
 and grace to you, the moment you turn to Him in true repent- 
 ance. Without repentance, I do not deny that the same Con- 
 firmation makes your case worse ; as do all the means of grace, 
 abused. But still on God's part the saying holds true, and 
 qtthing but our own sloth or wickedness can baffle it ; that the 
 good work, begun in Baptism and Confirmation, must be taken as 
 a pledge of mercy and salvation at last. 
 
 Now what has been said of Confirmation, is still in a higher 
 degree true concerning the holy Supper of the Lord : of which it 
 is clearly His blessed will, that all who have been confirmed 
 should speedily become worthy partakers. Such as duly re- 
 ceive those holy mysteries are instructed by the Church " most 
 heartily to thank God, for vouchsafing to feed them with the 
 spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of His Son 
 our Saviour, and for assuring us thereby of His favour and 
 goodness towards us, and that we are in truth members united to 
 the spiritual Body of His Son, which is the blessed company of 
 all faithful people ; and are also heirs through hope of His ever- 
 lasting Kingdom, through the merits of the most precious death 
 and passion of His dear Son." And in humble confidence they 
 are further instructed to pray, that our heavenly Father, who 
 has just given us such a mark of His favour, would go on to 
 "assist us with His grace, that we may continue in that holy 
 
250 PAST MERCIES, 
 
 fellowship, and do all such good worlcs as He has prepared for us 
 to walk in." 
 
 I have repeated to you almost the whole of this Collect, showing 
 you most exactly the meaning of the Apostle, when he teaches 
 you to regard the past mercies of the Almighty as pledges of 
 further mercies to come. The Holy Communion, the greatest of 
 those mercies on earth, because it is what brings you nearest to 
 our blessed Saviour — is also the most distinct pledge of con- 
 tinued and increasing mercies to come. Because God has just 
 given us the very Body and Blood of His Son, therefore we come 
 boldly to the throne of grace, asking for help to do those good 
 works which He has prepared for us to walk in. 
 
 Thus you see how the means of grace, offered, one after 
 another, to Christian people in the Church of God, ought to 
 serve as so many reasons for depending on Him for more and 
 more grace : so many fearful condemnations to those who go 
 back, or do not go forward. And this holds true of every person, 
 whether he chooses to attend to God's offers, and employ His 
 means of grace, or no. It is still equally true, surely, that our 
 Blessed Lord means you mercy every time He invites you to 
 His holy Table ; every time He causes you to be reminded of 
 your Baptism, which you very likely have all but forgotten, or of 
 Confirmation, which you may probably have slighted or profaned. 
 These are, all of them, His gracious beginnings ; and where they 
 are, you may be quite certain He is waiting to do you good, the 
 moment you will turn to Him. His mind is towards you, as it 
 was towards His ancient people; to whom His words were such 
 as these : " Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby 
 ye have transgressed, and make you a new heart and a new 
 spirit : for why will ye die, O house of Israel ?" 
 
 The means of grace, such as I have now mentioned, are com- 
 mon to the whole Church. But let us now consider a case of a 
 more private and personal kind, between God and each man's 
 own conscience. Let us suppose any one, after vears, it may be, 
 of carelessness and irreligion, touched with some feeling of his 
 sins, some thought of his spiritual condition. Every such thought 
 and feeling, depend on it, is a sure sign that God intends tliat 
 man to repent in earnest. If you let such misgivings pass un- 
 
A TLEDGE OF MERCIES TO COME. 251 
 
 improved, and hurry back again like a dog to his vomit, do not 
 think you are just where you were. No : you are in a much 
 worse condition ; God has knocked again at the door of your 
 heart, and you have again refused to open, and let Him in to 
 dwell there. On the other hand, if by His grace you really open 
 your ear to instruction, then you have this blessed assurance, 
 that the very first scruple thus arising in you is a proof that 
 God has not cast you off: you may be forgiven and saved; only 
 lose no time, lest this mercy too be thrown away. 
 
 And when you have once begun, really and steadily, to mind 
 the great work of your salvation — when you find yourself in good 
 truth more earnest and fervent in prayer, more awake and alive 
 to the presence of Almighty God, more concerned to please 
 your Saviour in all things, — then you may humbly consider, that 
 every hour of real improvement is a fresh sign of His gracious 
 purpose towards you : thus you may quiet any misgivings, which 
 either sloth, or discontent, or (as sometimes happens) bodily 
 infirmity may at times excite within you. Only be very much on 
 your guard against anything like praising yourself. Remember 
 the Pharisee in the parable : a good work had begun in him ; for 
 punctual payment of God's dues, and fasting to keep himself in 
 order, were surely, so far, good things : but he threw all the 
 good of them away, he turned them into occasions of evil, by 
 trusting in them, and valuing himself upon them. Never forget, 
 that this snare is laid for you. When Satan cannot prevent 
 good beginnings, his next point is, to get you to praise yourself 
 for them ; not always to praise yourself in words, but often, what 
 is still more dangerous, to think over your own praise silently. 
 This is a deep and most enticing art ; and those who know, by 
 their own conscience, that they are apt to be led away by it, and 
 to sit musing on their own good deeds, have as much need as any 
 sinner in the world to watch and pray without ceasing. 
 
 However, thus much is certain : that nothing besides amend- 
 ment in practice, purer and holier thoughts, words, and actions, 
 nothing short of this can be safely depended on as a token of 
 men's final salvation. As far as we dare to judge of it at all, we 
 must judge of it by that rule, and by no other : not by our much 
 knowledge of divine words, no, nor of divine things either ; nor yet 
 by our quick and strong feelings, when we read or hear of the 
 
252 PAST iMERCIES, A PLEDGE OF MERCIES TO COME. 
 
 sufferings of our Saviour, or other affecting parts of holy Scrip- 
 ture ; much less are you to judge yourself in a state of grace, 
 because you have more knowledge, or more good feeling, than 
 many or most of your acquaintance. These are, indeed, broken 
 reeds to lean on, without good practice to follow them, good 
 practice persevering to the end. 
 
 And observe, I mean by good practice, not what the world 
 means, only or chiefly, doing your duty to your neighbour, but I 
 mean especially, doing your duty to your Saviour : trying to 
 live by faith in His Cross, to please Hm in all things, for He 
 died for you. These things will bring a man peace at the 
 last ; as for high knowledge and quick feehngs, and thankful re- 
 collections of mercies received in times past, they are all good, 
 as beginnings : but if not followed up, they may, and will, be 
 lost. 
 
 Who ever knew more of the truth, or felt divine things more 
 deeply, or had more Christian good works to look back on, than 
 had the great Apostle St. Paul.? But he never durst look 
 back ; he counted not himself to have obtained ; he kept himself 
 in order, body and soul, lest, having preached to others, he him- 
 self should be a castaway. 
 
 " Are we, then, never to be certain .'' never to be assured of our 
 final salvation V We know of no promise that we shall be so 
 here in this present world. But we do know that we are com- 
 manded, as long as we are in this world, to work out our 
 salvation with fear and trembling : we do know, that the great 
 Owner of the world begun by His Spirit a good work in us, 
 when He called us to be Christians, and has given us many 
 tokens since, that He will perform that work unto the end, if our sin 
 and unbehef drive Him not away. This we do know for certain ; 
 and therefore we may be sure that it is wisest and best, making no 
 question of God's merciful purpose, to judge ourselves strictly 
 by His plain commands, and in deep humiliation for our past 
 unworthiness, and strict purposes of future improvement, to sub- 
 mit ourselves to His good Spirit, for such measures of com- 
 fort and assurance as He knows to be best for us. As long as 
 we choose for ourselves, we are in danger ; but when we can 
 once, truly and heartily, leave Him to choose for us, then it will 
 be well with us, and then we shall be safe. 
 
SERMON CXCVII. 
 
 THE ENEMIES OF THE CROSS. 
 
 Philip, iii. 18, 19. 
 
 " For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even 
 weeping, that they are the enemies of the Cross of Christ: whose end 
 is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, 
 who mind earthly things." 
 
 This letter of . St. Paul to the Philippians, as is clearly enough 
 pointed out by the beginning of the first chapter, addresses itself 
 particularly to well-meaning Christians, people who are so far 
 honest in heart as to wish to serve God sincerely, and not make 
 void His Fatherly care in sending His ministers among them, and 
 providing them with the means of grace. Now whereas such an 
 amiable and right disposition is not seldom blemished, more or 
 less, by indolence of mind, making men unwilling to consider 
 deeply, and look unpleasant truths in the face ; and especially, 
 making it hard for them to believe that any error commonly re- 
 ceived, and embraced perhaps by persons whom they like, can be 
 very ruinous to men's souls ; — observe how plainly the Apostle 
 speaks out, what earnest and vehement language he uses ; so that 
 no one, regarding his judgment, (or rather the judgment of the 
 Holy Spirit by him,) could ever after think slightly of the sin 
 and error here denounced by him. " Many walk, of whom I have 
 told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the 
 
254 THE ENEMIES OF THE CROSS. 
 
 enemies of the Cross of Christ : whose end is destruction, whose 
 God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind 
 earthly things." 
 
 To make the right use of these words, we must consider what 
 sort of people the Apostle is here describing. Not, I should think, 
 professed Heathens, but rather, lukewarm, insincere Christians; 
 for if they were not outwardly of that faith, there would have 
 been little or no danger of well-meaning believers imitating them. 
 But suppose them, in show and profession, Christians ; suppose 
 them to make up a very large portion of the visible Church of 
 Christ, and the need of warning, of severe and constant warning 
 against them, is clear at once, and very pressing. Not of unbe- 
 lievers, then, but of insincere, inconsistent believers, is St. Paul 
 speaking here in the text. And he seems as if, do what he would, 
 he could hardly find words to express his sense of their peril. " I 
 have told you before of them, and now tell you, even weeping, 
 that they are the enemies of the Cross of Christ ;" not simply 
 enemies, but the enemies, the worst enemies of that Name, be- 
 sides which " there is none other under Heaven given unto men, 
 whereby they must be saved." 
 
 And no wonder their end should be, what he next tells us, 
 "destruction ;" since they obstinately cast away from them the only 
 hope and refuge of sinners, the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 This warning the Apostle accompanied with his tears. " I have 
 told you of them," says he, " before, and now tell you even weep- 
 ing :" weeping with regret and sorrow for them, that they should 
 cast themselves into such misery ; and with fear and anxiety 
 for his own faithful people, lest they should be any how be- 
 guiled by their example. " They are the enemies of the Cross 
 of Christ: whose end is destruction." These are his inspired 
 words of warning, put first, as it seems, to rouse his hearers, 
 and make them listen more attentively, to know what class of 
 persons they might be, who, professing like themselves to be 
 Christians, could deserve and receive so dreadful a sentence. 
 And he leaves no one at a loss to know ; the words that follow 
 point out to every one, in a way which cannot be mistaken, what 
 sort of persons he has in view. " Their God is their belly, and 
 their glory is in their shame," because "they mind earthly 
 things." Selfish, sensual persons, entirely swallowed up in the 
 
THE ENEMIES OF THE CROSS, 255 
 
 gross and brutish pursuits of this present evil world, could not 
 be more emphatically described. 
 
 "Their God is their belly;" that is, as minds sincerely pious 
 and Christian are taken up with the thought of God, and make it 
 always their first care, whatever they do, to please Him ; so these 
 men are taken up with those low and mean appetites which men 
 have in common with beasts : eating and drinking and bodily de- 
 lights are their first care, the thing which they long for, the object 
 for which they live and act. One would think the mere pointing 
 out to such persons, how they wilfully degrade themelves, how 
 they let themselves, on purpose, down, as far as they mav, to the 
 condition of brutes, — one would think this ought to be enough to 
 produce something like repentance in them. If not as Christians, 
 surely as men, they must feel it a shame and a reproach, to be 
 wholly given up to the body. So one might expect ; but what is 
 the fact ? 
 
 "Their glory," says St. Paul, "is in their shame;" they are 
 grown so besotted, so brutish, by long indulgence of their bodily 
 appetites, that they pride themselves and exult among their com- 
 panions, each in being more wicked than another. For instance ; 
 among habitual drunkards, is it not made a matter of boasting to 
 be mightier than the rest to drink wine, and of more strength to 
 mingle strong drink : that is, in other words, to be a more hardened 
 and reprobate sinner, and to go further in offending God ? Men 
 do not, I know, distinctly mean this : in many cases, they do not 
 think at all of God when they thus afifront Him with glorying in 
 their sins : but who made them so hardened, so reckless, as to 
 leave Him out of their thoughts ? Was it not their own wilful 
 corruption, in giving way more and more to passions which they 
 knew to be wrong, to imaginations which they ought to have 
 kept in order ? 
 
 If any man say, his passions were strong, his nature weak, 
 and though indeed he knew better, he had not strength to 
 act upon that knowledge ; here again he forgets, inexcusably, 
 that he was not left to his own weak nature. He forgets that 
 Almighty God, on whom he might have called if he would 
 when he gave way to wilful sin, — that Holy Spirit of Grace, 
 which is always close enough at hand, and surely always able 
 to help him out of any, the most overpowering, temptation. 
 
256 THE ENEMIES OF THE CROSS. 
 
 It is for want of sincere prayer, timely begun and steadily kept 
 up, that people go on yielding to their passions, till conscience is 
 seared as with a hot iron, and they come absolutely to glory in 
 their shame. From beginning to end, therefore, of this wretched 
 progress, the disgrace and the sin is all men's own ; they must 
 not accuse frail nature, when they had God's good Spirit to help 
 them ; they must not say it was forgetfulness of God, not wilful 
 defiance of Him, when they knew it was their own doing, in spite 
 of many and many a warning, which brought them into such a 
 state, that they could not well help forgetting Him. Nobody ever, 
 among Christians, except by his own fault, falls into such a con- 
 dition, as that his glory should be in his shame. 
 
 But observe next what is mentioned as the root and ground 
 of all this mischief: "They mind earthly things;" or as the 
 words properly mean, "They are earthly-minded," not heavenly- 
 minded : all their thoughts, plans, and wishes, savour of this 
 world and not of the next. Observe, I say, this earthly temper, 
 to what, of course, it will bring men's souls. It will make them 
 "enemies of the Cross of Christ ;" their end destruction, their 
 belly their God, and their worst shame their pride and glory. 
 To many it seems a matter of course, a thing quite to be taken 
 for granted, that living in the world amongst other men, they 
 should not only follow the customs, but have the mind, of the 
 world ; " they must do as other men do." And the Gospel 
 of Christ is very far from encouraging men to afi'ect singularity. 
 We are not required to go out of the world, but continuing as 
 we generally must in the world, to set our minds upon something 
 better. If we will not, there is no remedy, we must become 
 enemies of the Cross of Christ. It is worth our while to 
 consider more distinctly, how this grievous effect follows upon 
 that earthly mind, which so many seem to consider as a mere 
 pardonable failing. 
 
 First, If people will give themselves up to the hopes and 
 desires of this present world ; — if their hearts are entirely taken 
 up with making a fortune, with enjoying themselves, or any 
 thing else of the like kind, which, however important it may 
 seem to us now, is sure after a little while to pass away and 
 become as nothing ; — they cannot possibly judge aright of the 
 deep heinousness of sin before God, or of the infinite value 
 
THE ENEMIES OF THE CROSS. 257 
 
 of what Christ has done to redeem us from its sad conse- 
 quences. For instance, take a covetous man ; the love of 
 money and of self-indulgence has so worked itself into his very- 
 heart and mind, that it seems to him a matter of course to 
 make that his rule in all things : he cannot, as it were, under- 
 stand how any one should do otherwise. What the Scripture 
 tells us, then, of God's anger against covetousness ; the woe 
 denounced on those restless men who add house to house and 
 field to field ; the sentence of St. Paul, when he says, that the 
 love of money is the root of all evil, and of our Saviour, repre- 
 senting the rich man in the parable as condemned for choosing 
 his good things in this world : — all these things viill seem over- 
 strained, strange, and unaccountable, to the worldly man : he 
 will not enter at all into them, and however he may confess all 
 in words, as he must, or deny the Scriptures, his heart will not 
 really assent to them. How then should he possibly have 
 a right notion of the danger he has brought himself into, by 
 indulging that kind of temper ? and not knowing the danger, 
 how can he value the deliverance as he ought ? how can he be 
 duly thankful for the unspeakable love of the Son of God, 
 in pouring out His soul unto death to deliver him from those 
 very sins ? 
 
 But the Apostle says of this earthly mind, that it makes men 
 not only indifferent, but direct enemies, to the Cross of Christ : 
 that is, it makes them unwilling to receive into their hearts the 
 true doctrine of Jesus our Lord, suffering and dying to recon- 
 cile us sinners to His Father. It does not always make men 
 unwilling to confess this doctrine with their lips ; on the con- 
 trary, I fear we must own it, by too frequent experience, possible, 
 to talk well of the Great Atonement, and take a pleasure in 
 showing to others how much men know on the subject, while their 
 ordinary behaviour convicts them of still minding earthly things. 
 For it is one thing to converse skilfully, and be ready with 
 Scripture texts, about the Doctrine of the Cross, and it is 
 another thing, to receive that blessed doctrine sincerely into 
 your heart and conduct. An earthly-minded man may do the 
 one, but he cannot in the nature of things do the other, without 
 putting oflF his earthly mind. For what is it we mean, when 
 we speak of receiving the Doctrine of the Cross into our heart ? 
 
258 THE ENF.JIIES OF THE CUOSS. 
 
 We mean the same that our Savfour did, when He bade those 
 who would be His disciples " take up their Cross daily and 
 follow Him." We mean the same that the Church means, 
 when it tells us that our profession is to be made like unto our 
 Saviour Christ ; that " as He died and rose again for us, so 
 should we, who are baptized, die from sin, and rise again unto 
 righteousness." The change is so great, from an earthly mind 
 to a mind according to the Cross of Christ, that it is likened 
 to death itself and resurrection, the passing from one world 
 to another. It is so painful in many respects, there being 
 always corrupt nature to subdue, and too often bad habits to 
 root out, that he who sets about it must make up his mind 
 to take up his cross daily : that is, to suffer something daily for 
 his Saviour's sake. He must do what he would wish to leave 
 undone, and leave undone what he would wish to do ; must 
 tear himself away from wrong pleasures, though evil custom 
 may have made him feel as if he could not do without them ; 
 and must apply himself to irksome duties, in spite of a corrupt 
 and indolent heart, which would fain persuade him he has done 
 enough already. This must be done for Christ's sake ; to 
 please Him who has performed and suffered such unspeakable 
 things for us, and with a thorough conviction that without 
 Him, without His Holy Spirit assisting our weak endeavours, 
 nothing of ours can be good, right, or holy. This is receiving 
 the doctrine of the Cross into our heart and mind and practice. 
 And how should the struggle be other than severe, when a soul, 
 entangled with the world, and accustomed to please itself, right 
 or wrong, endeavours to enter on such a path as this ? And how 
 should those lost and miserable men, who determine to please 
 themselves at any rate, and will not be weaned: from their 
 earthly mind ;^how should they be other than enemies and 
 haters of that which so disturbs their false peace, and convicts 
 them of being so much in the wrong ? 
 
 Now, although I trust there are not many thus desperate and 
 reckless in hatred of the Cross, it is a truth never to be forgotten, 
 that the spirit which makes men such, the earthly minded, anti- 
 Christian spirit, is, and is active, more or less, in all. The flesh, 
 the carnal and wicked mind, which is enmity against God, exerts 
 itself, as much as ever we will let it, against the Spirit, the good 
 
THE ENEMIES OF THE CROSS. 259 
 
 principle, which would teach them the mind of Jesus Christ. 
 In whatever measure men give way to this, whether in one sin 
 or in another, so far they set themselves against Christ, and be- 
 come the enemies of His Cross ; so far, as much as in them lies, 
 they undo what He intended, when He shed His blood for them. 
 There are none so good, but they too often have occasion to 
 lament this ; for want of seriousness and diligence in prayer, the 
 great concern of all is not so present to their recollection as it 
 ought to be : their thoughts wander more than they need ; they 
 do and say too many things, by which others, who perhaps look 
 up to them, are encouraged in what is wrong and unchristian, 
 and are led to doubt whether there is any thing in religion, see- 
 ing that those, who appeared to have so much of it, could allow 
 themselves in such irreligious liberties. 
 
 But if occasional wanderings like these do so much harm to 
 the good cause, what shall we say to th^t too ordinary case, in 
 which the whole conduct of a Christian person is, and is known to 
 be, no better than a mere minding of earthly things ? St, Paul 
 has told us in the text what such are ; they are the enemies of 
 the Cross of Christ ; and how they come to be so, it has been 
 now my endeavour to explain. It is a serious thought for us, 
 every one. There is a war going on in the world, between the 
 Cross of Christ and the powers of darkness : Satan, on the one 
 side, trying to keep in subjection the lost sbuls of sinful men ; 
 the Cross of Christ, the one sufficient remedy, held up on the 
 other side, by Almighty Power and infinite Mercy, for all who 
 are willing to lay hold of it. It is a warfare in which you cannot 
 stand by, and take no part with either ; it being expressly de- 
 clared concerning it, " He that is not with me is against me, and 
 he that gathereth not with me scattereth." 
 
 Do not think, then, to go your own way, to please yourself and 
 the world, to mind earthly things, and yet not to be against our 
 Saviour. True it is, if you resolutely take His part, and humbly 
 depend on Him for aid, you may very likely find the cost, even in 
 this world, less than you expected. His good and gracious Spirit, 
 given in answer to your fervent prayers, will smooth the way of 
 duty for you, will maki it practicable all along, and sooner or later, 
 deli"-htful too. But you must make up your mind to difficulties ; 
 YOU must not think much of enduring hardness, as a good soldier 
 
26Q THE ENEMIES OF THE CROSS. 
 
 of Jksus Christ. Some pain and trouble you may have, in re- 
 sisting the threats of ill-disposed men ; still more, in disregarding 
 their ridicule ; and most and sharpest of all, in overcoming your 
 own weak nature, and turning away from pleasant sins. Expect 
 such things beforehand ; prepare for them by prayer and good 
 resolution ; depend not at all on yourself, but on God's Holy 
 Spirit to encounter them, and they need not overpower you when 
 they come. 
 
 To conclude : If there be one thought above all others most 
 apt to encourage and support a Christian in the severer parts of 
 his earthly trial, it is surely the consideration, that, suffer what 
 he will, if he suffer in the right spirit, for our Saviour's sake and 
 to His glory, that Divine Saviour Himself will reckon such a 
 man as partaker of His sufferings, bearing His Cross after Him. 
 Again : if there be any thing done in the Church which more 
 than all other things should acquaint us with this best of com- 
 forts, — any service which more than the rest would keep us close 
 to our Saviour's Cross, — it is the Sacrament of the Lord's Sup- 
 per ; the bread and wine which Himself appointed to convey to 
 true penitent hearts the full blessing of His death and sacrifice. 
 How is it that any Christian, knowing himself as he must to be 
 liable to sin and misery, can wilfully refuse the treasure of spi- 
 ritual strength ? How is it that one who knows himself a sinner, 
 should be careless of coming to our Redeemer for pardon ? The 
 explanation lies in two words: "They mind earthly things:" 
 therefore in this, as in other respects, they behave themselves 
 not as true believers, but as enemies of the Cross of Christ. 
 
 God grant that it be not so always : and as the best means of 
 correcting so great an evil, may His grace be more and more 
 thankfully received by those who have not yet forsaken His 
 altar : and may their lives shine so brightly before men, that 
 others seeing their good works, may be won to follow their good 
 example, and glorify their Father which is in Heaven. 
 
SERMON CXCVIII. 
 
 GOD'S FAMILY, A SCHOOL OF GOOD WORKS. 
 
 FOR TBE SVNDAY BEFORE ADTENT. 
 
 Titus ii. 13, 14. 
 
 •' The great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, 
 that He might redeem us from ail iniquity, and purify unto Himself a 
 peculiar people, zealous of good works." 
 
 As the Church draws nearer and nearer to Advent, the solemn 
 season which she has set apart for meditation on Christ's second 
 coming, she becomes more and more earnest in pressing on every 
 Christian soul the absolute necessity of good works. She would 
 have the thought of a terrible judgment to come, we know not 
 how soon, — she would have this thought sink deep in all our 
 hearts, and set us on preparing ourselves in good earnest, by 
 hearty amendment while we are yet on our trial. For it will be 
 too late to repent, and promise improvement, just as the sentence 
 is going to be passed. Like a kind considerate guardian, there- 
 fore, the Church warns you to get ready, that you may not be 
 ashamed before Him at His coming. 
 
 And in to-day's Collect, more especially, she presses upon us 
 immediate repentance, in consideration of what you owe to her. 
 She speaks to you, and teaches you to pray, as one of God's 
 own faithful people. She bids you recollect, that as a Christian 
 you are a member of a holy society, a body of men chosen out of 
 the world by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, expressly for the 
 
 VOt. VI. T 
 
•262 god's family, 
 
 purpose of serving Him in all good and devout works. " We are 
 His people, and the sheep of His pasture," His own household. 
 His children and servants. A Christian, by God's ordinance, is 
 no longer allowed to consider himself as standing alone in the 
 world, but as one among many in a holy family. And this puts 
 all his duties in a peculiar point of view, not always regarded as 
 it ought to be, even by serious and well-meauing men. 
 
 This piece of instruction is conveyed in the text by the words 
 "peculiar people." The title was at first applied to the holy 
 seed, the children of Israel, when God had redeemed them to 
 Himself by bringing them out of the land of Egypt. He ga- 
 thered them together round Mount Sinai, and declared from 
 heaven that He had chosen them out of all the kingdoms of the 
 world, to be a "peculiar treasure" to Him: "a kingdom of priests, 
 and a holy nation." The Holy Spirit, by St. Peter, has taken 
 up the expression, and applied it to all Christians. "Ye are a 
 chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar 
 people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath 
 called you out of darkness into His marvellous light." And here 
 we find St. Paul, in a letter of most serious advice and exhorta- 
 tion to one whom he had ordained to be a Christian Bishop, 
 giving no other account of the very purpose of our Blessed Sa- 
 viour in being made man, and dying for us: He "gave Himself 
 for us, that He might redeem us- from all iniquity, and purify 
 unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." 
 
 The natural condition of all mankind is no better, you see, than 
 a slavery, out of which we needed to be bought and redeemed, 
 before we could be capable of the mighty blessings which God 
 in His mercy had prepared for us : just as the Jews needed deli- 
 verance from Egypt, before they could be brought into Canaan. 
 This slavery the whole world, both Jew and Gentile, were con- 
 tinually making worse, by the bad habits in which they indulged, 
 and the power which they allowed evil spirits to gain over them. 
 To use the expression of the holy Apostle, the world was " carnal, 
 sold under sin." And it was quite impossible, and out of the 
 question, that men should do any thing for their own deliver- 
 ance. 
 
 But what sinners could not do for themselves, the eternal and 
 ever blessed Son of God graciously undertook to do for them : 
 
A SCHOOL OF GOOD WORKS. '263 
 
 and that at the cost of His own precious blood. " He gave 
 Himself for us, that He might redeem us" — not, observe, from 
 the punishment of sin only, but also from the habit and temper of 
 sin. Christ died to redeem the sinner from those chains of 
 evil custom, which have wound themselves so round him by 
 length of time, that he feels as if shaking them off would be 
 losing a part of himself. Christ died to redeem the drunkard 
 from his drunkenness, the impure from his debauchery, the un- 
 kind from his malice, the godless and careless man from his love 
 of this present world. All these and all other sins, with which in 
 time past men's consciences have been stained, the Almighty 
 Father is willing to pardon, for His dear and only Son's sake : 
 and for His sake also in time to come. He offers to all who truly 
 repent the heavenly assistance of the Holy Spirit, to keep them 
 from their old sins, and make them go on in such good works as 
 He has promised to reward in Heaven. Thus our Blessed Lord 
 on His Cross is made unto us complete Redemption, both from 
 the power and punishment of sin. 
 
 Observe now, to what purpose the Son thus made us free. 
 Not to leave us in such a condition as many seem to delight in 
 imagining, the moment they hear of freedom and liberty — not 
 to turn us out into the world, loose and independent of all 
 restraint — but to make us more dependent on Him, more closely 
 confined within His laws, for every day and hour that we live as 
 Christians. If you listen to your natural blind notions, they will 
 represent it as a noble and desirable thing to have one's own way 
 in all things, to please one's self without asking any one's leave : 
 but look into the Word of God, seek the true meaning of the 
 death of Christ, and you will learn a very different lesson. God's 
 service, you will learn, is perfect freedom : the way to have your 
 ow^n will is to resign yourself up to the Almighty, and try to have 
 no will but His. This lesson, learned perfectly, is the temper of 
 blessed spirits in heaven. And in such measure as you, by the 
 grace of God crowning your prayers and hearty endeavours, are 
 enabled to have this mind, so far your life even here on earth will 
 be indeed holy and heavenly. So far, having been, by the Cross 
 of your Saviour, " delivered out of the hands of your enemies," 
 the World, the Flesh, and the Devil, you will serve Him, as He 
 
 T 2 
 
264 god's famii,y, 
 
 invites you, " without fear, in holiness and righteousness before 
 Him, all the days of your life." 
 
 In a word, the peculiar, chosen people, whom Christ vouch- 
 safed to redeem to Himself, were meant, above all things in the 
 world, to be always " zealous of good works ;" not only rather 
 good than evil, such as might pass well enough in the world, but 
 "zealous," eager, earnest in good; every man striving and 
 trying to be every day better than he was yesterday. And this 
 is what our Collect means by " plenteously bringing forth the 
 fruit of good works," and what is there proposed as the only 
 wav for us to be at last " plenteously rewarded" of God. 
 
 And in order that each particular Christian might answer the 
 better this intention of our gracious Redeemer, He has not left 
 us to stand, as it were, separate and apart from one another, but 
 has appointed that all who believe in Him should make up one 
 people, one household, one body ; should feel a deep interest one 
 in another, as if their welfare were bound up together : so that 
 " whether one member suffer, all the members should suffer with 
 it ; or whether one member be honoured, all the members should 
 rejoice with it." The whole plan of the Christian Church is, in 
 short, as entirely opposite to the natural pride and self- sufficiency 
 of man, as any thing can well be imagined. It will not let you 
 for a moment dream that you can stand alone, and be inde- 
 pendent. 
 
 This, as well as the Church's constant purpose of keeping you 
 steady and zealous in good works, will appear more and more 
 evidently, the more you consider, one by one, the methods of 
 God in providing for that His family ; the way by which Hb 
 admitted you into it, the way by which He maintains you in it, 
 the government set by Him over His Church, the privileges 
 offered to obedient members of the family, and the punishments 
 in store for the froward and wicked. 
 
 As to the way in which it has pleased God to admit men into 
 His household, the Church, it is, as you know, by having them 
 baptized with water in the name of the Holy Trinity : to which 
 baptism His providence called you, being yet helpless children; 
 and thus taught you, at the very beginning, how vain it is to 
 depend on one's self, since this first step of all, which put you in 
 
A SCHOOL OF GOOD WORKS. 265 
 
 a way towards happiness, had to be made for you entirely by 
 others. The charity of Parents, of Sponsors, of Ministers, and of 
 the whole Church of God, helped to introduce you to these 
 blessings. You never could have attained them alone. 
 
 And when you were so introduced, care was taken to pledge 
 and bind you, as far as an infant could be pledged and bound, to 
 every kind of good work. Think seriously of that promise, " To 
 keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same 
 all the days of your life :" that is, in other words, to take God's 
 will and word for your rule, to resign yourself to Him as to your 
 best friend, and make it the business of your life to please Him. 
 
 If any be tempted to the irrehgious fancy of saying, " they 
 never made t'le promise ; others made it in their name, and they 
 cannot be bound by it ;" certainly it is in their power, if they 
 will, to disavow and break their word given to God : but let 
 them remember, that at the same time they cast away all the pri- 
 vileges of their Christian calling. They can no longer plead 
 God's promise to be their God, to help them with His grace in 
 answer to their earnest prayers. Refusing to be bound by the 
 covenant of their baptism, they refuse to be members of Christ, 
 children of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of Heaven ; they 
 make themselves, as far as they can, such as the unbaptized 
 heathen were, " having no hope, and without God in the world." 
 In a word, the agreement must be taken, all or none : you cannot 
 suppose yourself at liberty to choose which part you will keep, 
 and which not ; you cannot expect the privileges of God's house- 
 hold, if you will not try to perform your part of its duties. 
 
 If all this be clear on considering the first sacrament, by which 
 our Saviour admitted us into His family, it is still plainer, when 
 we pass on to the second, by which he maintains and feeds us 
 from time to time ; like a kind father providing for his children 
 that nourishment which they most need. Immediate communion 
 with Jesus Christ, His own blessed Body and Blood, is the true 
 support and sustenance of faithful souls ; and this is what no man 
 can provide for himself ; the mercy of God provides it for him in 
 the Church, by the hands of His chosen Ministers. God requires 
 you to come, meekly and humbly, renouncing all claims of your 
 own ; not pretending to be any thing by yourself, but resting all 
 your hope altogether upon your being one of Christ's holy 
 
266 god's family, 
 
 household ; — a member of His Divine Body, deriving grace and 
 merit from Him. By the very act of coining to the Holy Com- 
 munion, you renounce, before God and man, that proud unchris- 
 tian notion of standing alone, being independent. You profess 
 yourself to stand in continual need of all the means and instru- 
 ments of Grace ; the prayers, the intercession, the good example, 
 of your brethren ; all the helps which the Son of God has so 
 graciously provided in His Church and Household. 
 
 Thus you see how the Holy Communion, the appointed sign 
 and daily conveyance of spiritual nourishment in the Church of 
 God — you see how this Sacrament tends to cure men of their 
 proud imaginary freedom, and make them feel how far they de- 
 pend, by Christ's ordinance, upon His Church. And surelv, as 
 to zeal in good works, every one who thinks at all on the subject, 
 knows that one chief purpose of the Holy Communion was to 
 encourage and strengthen men in that. On that verv account it 
 is, that so many Christian men and women shrink back from the 
 Lord's Altar, because they know, that worthy communicants 
 endeavour to be zealous of good works ; and to such zeal, such 
 endeavour, they have not yet made up their minds ; they bad 
 rather try a little longer, whether they may not do well enough 
 by refraining outwardly from gross sins, and being about as good 
 as their neighbours. They must be plainly told, over and over, 
 that what keeps them from being communicants now, would have 
 kept them from being Christians at all, if they had lived in the 
 days of the Apostles. For, as you hear, St. Paul would then 
 have told them, that the purpose of God in calling them to be 
 Christians was, that they might be earnest in good works — the 
 very thing which alarms them, and which they plead for their 
 backwardness, when they are invited to the Communion now. 
 
 For, indeed, such an assemblage of reasons for holiness of life, 
 as that blessed Sacrament presents, cannot be found any where 
 else. The Son of God, dying for your pardon, the Spirit of 
 God coming down to be your help, your own promises, and vows, 
 and oaths, so solemnly repeated in the more immediate presence 
 of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost — all this brought 
 home to your very senses by the sight and touch of the Holy 
 Elements, left by our Saviour to be pledges of Himself, to be, 
 in effect and virtue. His own Bodv and Blood — must needs make 
 
A SCHOOL OF GOOD WORKS. 2(57 
 
 a serious impression on every heart capable of seriousness, and 
 dispose it to serve Christ truly for the future ; and besides all, 
 and to ensure all, there is the secret invisible aid of God's 
 Holy Spirit, which, dwelling without measure in the Man 
 Christ Jesus, fails not to be communicated more and more to 
 all who worthily partake of that Bread and Cup. It is, as it 
 were, a strengthening medicine, left to Christ's peculiar people, 
 the Church, in order that they may be helped more plenteously 
 to bring forth the fruit of good works. 
 
 Are you then weak in any part of your duty ? come to that 
 holy Feast with a sincere will and desire to be stronger, and you 
 will by degrees be strengthened. But the truth is, too many of 
 us, well-knowing where they are spiritually feeble, do not care to 
 be made strong and sound. They had rather, in fact, continue 
 weak, in order to have a sort of excuse for some wrong indul- 
 gence or evil passion. They decline God's bread, from a childish 
 notion, that so they may be excused from doing God's work. 
 
 But the ALMiGHTr will not so be mocked, nor so permit His 
 own peculiar people to make void His purpose in purifying them 
 to Himself. And lest the two Sacraments alone should fail in 
 reminding them of that purpose. He has also condescended, as a 
 careful Master, to appoint persons under Him in His household ; 
 ministers of His holy Word and Sacraments, having power and 
 commandment from Him, on the one hand, to remind obstinate 
 sinners that such and such things are sins, and that God has 
 passed sentence on them in Heaven ; on the other, to declare 
 and pronounce to the penitent the absolution and remission of all 
 their sins. The Apostles had, united to this, power to strike 
 certain great and open sinners with sickness or other temporal 
 punishment — to deliver them for a while to an evil spirit for the 
 hurt of the flesh, that the soul might be saved in the day of the Lord 
 Jesus. And both the Apostles, and their successors the Bishops, 
 used to turn men out of the Church, when their offences were 
 notorious and open, shutting them, by public sentence, out of the 
 solemn assemblies of Christians, from hearing God's word, pray- 
 ing with their brethren, and especially from receiving Christ's 
 sacred Body and Blood. This is called by our Church, in the 
 Commination Service, " a godly discipline," and she greatly 
 wishes it might be restored among us ; which happy return to the 
 
268 god's family, 
 
 practice of the better times we may (if ever) then hope to see, 
 when Christians in general shall have learned more humility and 
 modesty, and be willing to trust themselves to the Church of 
 Christ, instead of presumptuously seeking out each his own 
 way of salvation. 
 
 I say, when men are spiritually more humble, we may hope to 
 see "godly ditffcipline" revived, sinners turned out of the Church, 
 and openly humbling themselves before God : but until then we 
 must wait with patience. This use, at any rate, we may make of 
 what we read in the Scriptures concerning the discipline of the 
 early Church ; it may serve as one instance more of the stress 
 laid on good works by Him who enacted those laws for His 
 people, our Lord and Saviour Christ Himself. He it was 
 who declared to His Apostles, and through them to all Bishops 
 of His Flock, "Whose sins ye remit, they are remitted, and 
 whose sins ye retain, they are retained :" and His Spirit in- 
 structed them to use that power in excluding great and open 
 sinners from the Church. Could there be a clearer sign of the 
 will and desire of Christ our King to have His Church without 
 spot or blemish, " plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good 
 works ?" And since He is still the same Christ, ruling in His 
 household by the same Spirit, although unhappily the same out- 
 ward discipline cannot at once be revived among us, still those 
 who wish always to please their Lord, may do well to bear that 
 discipline in mind, and order some parts of their conduct by it. 
 
 For example : one rule of that ancient discipline was, " If any 
 man that is called a Christian be a fornicator, or a defrauder, or 
 an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with 
 such an one, no not to eat ;" to avoid his company, and show 
 him that you did so, on indifferent and ordinary occasions. 
 Would it not be true Christian charity, if some of us would act 
 on this rule a little more conscientiously than the world would 
 teach us to do ; treating those persons, who are notoriously 
 guilty of what God has condemned, however usual — treating 
 them, I say, with a kind of reserve, as though they were already 
 excommunicated ; as, no doubt, they are in Heaven ? I say, this 
 would be the truest charity, because it would give these unfortu- 
 nate persons one chance more of repentance and amendment, as 
 often as they saw Christian people, otherwise kind and gentle. 
 
A SCHOOL OF GOOD WORKS. 269 
 
 shrinking from them on account of their sins. Whereas, if, 
 amid all their notorious guilt, they find themselves yet welcome 
 companions even to such as profess to fear God, what can they 
 possibly imagine but this, That good men, in their hearts, do not 
 believe all that is said of the terrible consequences of such sins ? 
 And what efi'ect can that have, but to embolden the sinner in his 
 desperate course, and cause him, contrary to all our prayers, and 
 contrary to all the will of our Redeemer, plenteously to bring 
 forth the fruit of evil works ? 
 
 Even out of charity, therefore, to the sinner. Christians are 
 bound in their ordinary dealings to mark and avoid profligate 
 men ; and if they would do so, not in party spirit, but thoughtfully 
 and seriously, for conscience sake, they would be so far forward- 
 ing, each in his place, the purpose of their Saviour in giving 
 Himself for them. They would be doing what little they can 
 towards purifying the Church of God, and making it zealous of 
 good works. 
 
 Only let it always be remembered, that little blessing can be 
 expected on this or any other effort, which any man may make 
 for the salvation of others, except he watch, in the first place, for 
 his own. There let your Christian zeal begin, in rooting out 
 bad habits, and quieting rude and violent passions ; let that work 
 go hand in hand with a charitable zeal to make other men better 
 also, and both, by God's blessing, will be well done. A mind so 
 disposed will go on, silently and gradually, from year to year, 
 bringing forth the fruit of good works, till, in His own good time. 
 He who inspired will plenteously reward it. 
 
SERMON CXCIX. 
 
 ACCOUNT TO BE GIVEN OF CHURCH PRIVILEGES. 
 
 FOR THE SUNDAY BEFORE ADVENT. 
 
 John xv. 22. 
 
 " If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin : but now 
 they have no cloke for their sin." 
 
 We are so used to have the means of grace continually (as we 
 think) within our reach, that most of us, I fear, have come to 
 consider them quite as a settled thing, a matter of course. It 
 does not come into our minds, that we owe any particular thanks 
 to the Almighty" for casting our lot where we may have so rich 
 blessings from the Gospel and Church of Christ ; for giving us, 
 not only the Bible, but the Prayer-Book too. We seldom or never 
 recollect and examine ourselves, whether we be not loading our- 
 selves with a heavy burthen against the last Day, every year, 
 month, and week of our lives, by the little use we make of the 
 Prayer-Book in particular. 
 
 In order to help Christian men in understanding their own 
 guiltiness in this respect. Scripture has been very full in setting 
 forth the inexcusable guilt of those Jews who lived when our 
 Saviour came, and threw away that great privilege of having 
 Him personally among them. Let us suppose any one of these, 
 the year before our Lord's ministrations began : suppose a man 
 in those times, living in the same careless way that the generality 
 of people in all times seem to prefer, not indeed rejecting his 
 
ACCOUNT TO BE GIVEN OF CHURCH PRIVILEGES. 271 
 
 Creator altogether, but paying him very shght attention, 
 praying seldom and very carelessly, and taking no pains to pray 
 better ; indulging and humouring himself daily, with httle thought 
 of another vporld, little restraint from the known will of God. 
 And suppose that some devout person, coming to such an earthly- 
 minded Jew, in order to advise him better, had been enabled to 
 tell him beforehand of the wonderful manifestation, which God 
 was preparing to make of His eternal judgment and mercy, bv 
 His Son Jesus Christ ; suppose it had been said, " You are now 
 at ease in your sins, but what will be your thoughts when the 
 Most High God shall begin to do wondrously in your sight ; 
 when a Divine Instructor shall appear, and raise the dead, and 
 open the eyes of the blind, and feed thousands with a few loaves 
 and fishes, and show by all the other miracles of which the old 
 prophets have spoken, that He is indeed the promised Son of God ? 
 Shall you be able to keep up your profane indifference, when He 
 tells you of another world, and when He proves His words true 
 by calling the dead out of their graves ?" 
 
 Suppose these questions put to a careless irreligious Israelite, 
 there can be no doubt what his answer would have been. He 
 would have said, " Show me such signs as those, and of course I 
 must and shall be convinced." But when the signs were really 
 wrought, what was their effect on the generality ? We know 
 too certainly that they did not and would not believe : they 
 listened eagerly to the crafty inventions of their Scribes and 
 Pharisees. Instead of repenting, they cried out, " Crucify Him." 
 So unlike was their conduct to what themselves would have 
 expected beforehand. Christ came and spake unto them, Hb 
 showed them the signs themselves demanded, and so left them 
 without any cloke for their sin. 
 
 By this we see, when people have gone on long in forgetfulness 
 of God, how very much worse they become than they know 
 themselves. They bring themselves to such a habit of unbelief, 
 that miracles, doctrine, every thing, is lost upon them. Those 
 very means of grace, which they would have thought themselves 
 beforehand sure to be converted by, fail to do them any 
 good. 
 
 Let us take another example, nearer to our own experience. 
 Suppose any thoughtful person, wiio had been all his life long 
 
272 ACCOUNT TO BE GIVEN OF 
 
 kept at a distance from Christian privileges and means of grace, 
 to be somehow or other made acquainted with the provision 
 made in this country, for bringing men to repentance and 
 salvation. Suppose him informed for the first time, that if he 
 would come and live among us, he would find such places as our 
 churches provided, such services as those in our Prayer- Book 
 appointed, and such an order of persons as our Bishops and 
 Pastors ordained, on purpose to keep up a continual communica- 
 tion between repenting sinners and their pardoning God : what 
 would he expect to find, when he came to live in a land so 
 favoured? Would he not say to himself, "Surely among this 
 people I may hope to find tha words of the prophet accomplished, 
 by whom God, speaking of the glorified Church, says, ' My 
 people shall be all righteous ?' " If any person, naturally, would 
 look beforehand for some such thorough reformation among 
 men so privileged as we are, then we may judge of our own 
 degeneracy and wickedness, whose conduct is so very far from 
 coming up to such expectations. 
 
 To put the case still more particularly : Imagine for a moment 
 that the Order of Common Prayer and Sacraments, such as we 
 have it in our Prayer- Book, had only just been contrived and 
 adopted by the Church : that we had gone on hitherto without 
 any such help, every man being left to make out the Scriptures 
 by himself, and serve God as he might judge best. Imagine 
 that the order of the Sunday Services, such as will begin afresh 
 next Sunday, and go round to Advent in next year, were now 
 to be tried for the first time : I think one may say, quite posi- 
 tively, that any serious sensible person, who should look through 
 the services prepared, would naturally look for a great improve- 
 ment, a material amendment in the hearts and lives of Chris- 
 tians, by the time these services should have been gone through 
 one or two years. 
 
 For, first of all, on opening the Prayer-Book, he would see 
 that a daily Service was provided : an Order for Morning and 
 Evening Prayers, not for Sundays and great days only, but for 
 every day throughout the year. Here then, he would say, 
 is a Church and Nation, in which that common error will be 
 cured, of considering religion, and the worship of God, as a 
 duty for Sundays only. Here we may expect to find people 
 
CHURCH PRIVILEGES. 273 
 
 honouring the Sunday indeed beyond all days, and keeping it, 
 by a holy rest, as the appointed feast of our Lord's Resurrection, 
 but yet not forgetful of God and His Church on other days, — a 
 people ready to own and remember, that however important and 
 pressing their week-day cares and duties may be, they cannot 
 be so important and pressing as to justify them in neglecting 
 their God : who therefore will earnestly endeavour to serve 
 God in His Church, not on Sundays only, but as often as ever 
 that Church is open : will wish and try to be there, and be 
 sorry when they cannot. 
 
 This, I say, is one of the not unreasonable expectations which 
 might enter into a thoughtful stranger's mind, on reading our 
 Prayer-Book over for the first time. How would he be sur- 
 prised and disappointed, when he came to know the real state 
 of the case ! when he found that in a country so highly favoured, 
 such was the general lukewarmness and irreligion, that the 
 Churches in most places were only open on Sundays, and then 
 very partially attended, — attended in such a way, as too plainly 
 shows that men think more of entertaining themselves, by hear- 
 ing some new word of man, than of strengthening and refresh- 
 ing their souls, by joining in the Church's prayer to her God ! 
 
 In the same way, each part of the Prayer-Book, compared with 
 the lives of those who use it, or might use it, would seem to 
 bring a grievous accusation against them. Look at our Confes- 
 sion of Sins, renewed every morning and evening. Will it not 
 stand as against us in God's Book, that with such a remem- 
 brancer continually sounding in our ears, we should yet have so 
 little thought of our lost and miserable condition by sin, so little 
 care to secure God's pardon by a godly, righteous, and sober 
 life ? Look again at the Absolution : can any man say that he 
 wants encouragement to draw near his Saviour in humble 
 penitence, when he hears, or may hear, so very often those 
 gracious words, "He pardoneth and absolveth all them that 
 truly repent, and unfeignedly believe His holy Gospel ?" Look 
 at the prayers, consider them fairly, and judge whether those 
 persons can be excusable who, being taught by Goo's own 
 Apostolical Church such pure and heavenly and devout ways of 
 addressing Him, still continue at a distance from Him. 
 
 Look at the glorious Psalms and Hymns, using which we 
 
274 ACCOUNT TO BE GIVEN OF 
 
 praise God often in the very words of the Holy Ghost, always 
 in the words of the saints and martyrs of old. Whose fault 
 must it be, if in the congregation where such anthems are heard, 
 worldly, discontented imaginations still prevail ? Who is to 
 blame, but your own wilful spirit, if when you might have formed 
 yourself to a holy resignation and thankfulness by constant using' 
 of the Psalms of David, the man after God's own heart, you 
 still remain a fretful, moody complainer ? 
 
 Look at the Creeds of the Holy Catholic Church, and be sure 
 that she is not to blame, if her children, having such guidance 
 from her, go seriously wrong in the interpretation of holy 
 Scripture. Look at the order taken for Instruction in God's 
 Word : no person allowed to preach, or to perform any other 
 holy office, without the warrant of our Lord Jesus Christ 
 Himself, conveyed to the Minister, by the laying on of the 
 hands of the Bishops, the successors of His Apostles : holv Lessons 
 regularly taken out of the Old Testament and out of the New, 
 till the whole counsel of God has been declared in the words of 
 His own Divine Spirit : the Sermon itself, in our Church, 
 for more solemnity, made a part of the Communion Service, 
 and every thing about it so ordered as to show the wish of the 
 Church, that it should not be like a bare word from man, but 
 rather, as it were, the unfolding of God's word by His own 
 undoubted warrant and authority. 
 
 Again, suppose any rightly thinking person to have been living 
 where the holy Sacraments of Christ, Baptism and the Supper 
 of the Lord, were slighted and made little of, would he not 
 accept the Services in our Prayer-Book as a great security pro- 
 vided by the Church against such a dangerous and profane error } 
 When he found what care is taken to have young children brought 
 to their Saviour, without any loss of time — to leave them, being 
 so brought, in no doubt of their Christian privileges — to furnish 
 them with full instruction in their duty, and sureties to see that 
 they learn it all — to bring them in due time before the Bishop, 
 that by laying on of his hands thev may receive more and more 
 of God's Holy Spirit : when a man came for the first time to 
 know of all these charitable precautions, used by the Church to 
 bring all her children to Heaven, he would surely expect to find 
 children brought to baptism with a deep and devout sense of the 
 
CHURCH PRIVILEGES. 275 
 
 inestimable blessing there prepared for them ; taught their Cate- 
 chism, not as a mere school-task, but as a part of the solemn 
 service of God, not only to be repeated, but to be practised : 
 anxious to be confirmed, and diligent in preparing themselves for 
 it. All this one might hope to see not in five or six only, such 
 as one may look for even in a heathen country where the Gospel 
 is preached at all, but in the general body of the congregation. 
 
 When he came to find it otherwise — when he came to know 
 of Baptism being slighted by many, as though it were no great 
 spiritual good — of godfathers looking on their duty as a mere 
 compliment, or matter of course — of people's making haste to 
 forget their Catechism, and caring very little for Confirmation : 
 when he came to know of these things, he would, I should 
 expect, say to himself, " Wherever the fault of all this lies, the 
 Church, at least, is not to blame for it : she has done her duty. 
 It may be her ministers' neglect, or it may be her people's stub- 
 bornness, or it may be some of the one and some of the other : 
 but the Church herself is free of all blame : and a heavy account 
 they will have to give, who live in hearing of her plain grave in- 
 structions, and behave as if she had never spoken a word to 
 them." 
 
 The same, again, \yould be his course of thought, when he 
 came to consider the other blessed Sacrament, and to compare 
 Church laws and Church services regarding it with the ordinary 
 behaviour of Churchmen. If any go on profanely rejecting the 
 holy Communion altogether, the Church, he would perceive, is 
 not to blame for it, who has not only enjoined all her children to 
 communicate at least three times a year, but also encourages, 
 wherever it may be. Communion on every Lord's Day ; and to 
 put us in mind of that sacred duty, appoints certain portions of 
 the holy Service to be said at the Lord's Table, even when the 
 Sacrament is not administered. 
 
 If any come to that awful Table with hearts unclean and un- 
 prepared, it is not for want of being warned by the Church what 
 extreme pei"il they run into thereby. If any come with less 
 reverence than they ought, accounting that holy Feast a mere 
 remembrance of our Lord's sufi'erings, and not the very partak- 
 ing, spiritually, of His Body and Blood offered for us, the Church 
 in her whole service corrects his error, teaching over and over 
 
276 ACCOUNT TO BE GIVEN OF 
 
 that we there receive verily and indeed the Body and Blood of 
 Christ. 
 
 And so in all other the most material points of faith and prac- 
 tice. Any one who should consider them one by one, first in the 
 Prayer-Book and afterwards in the practice of Christians, must 
 needs confess that what is corrupt among us is our own fault, 
 and not the fault of our Church. 
 
 And when we find such wholesome laws, such sacred and 
 heavenly services neglected, what must we naturally look for in 
 the other parts of the same person's life and conduct ? Surely 
 we must make up our minds to see great want of seriousness and 
 devotion, great neglect of eternal things ; irregularity in every 
 kind of duty ; much dissolute and covetous conduct ; discontent, 
 murmuring, disloyalty of every kind ; contempt of parents, dis- 
 obedience to magistrates, irreverence to pastors, presumption 
 towards God Himself. And what must we expect in the end 
 thereof? What sort of a countenance, think you, shall we 
 appear with at the last day, when the Great King will come to 
 demand an account of all our talents, and especially of these, 
 our Church privileges ? how, I say, shall we look upon Him, 
 who have for this and so many past years possessed in such 
 abundance the means of grace, and have turned them into means 
 of sin ? The Judge Himself has given us some insight into the 
 proceedings of that fearful day, so far as regards impenitent and 
 slothful Christians. " Many will come to me in that day, say- 
 ing, We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast 
 taught in our streets : and then will I profess unto them, I 
 never knew you : depart from Me, ye that work iniquity." Alas! 
 if any persons in the world stand in danger of this sentence, 
 surely it is they who live among the Church servic~es, and yet 
 continue profane and indevout, and go on in the ordinary way of 
 the world. 
 
 If there be any such here — any whose conscience charges him 
 with being no truer a penitent, no nearer his God now than he 
 was a twelvemonth ago, when we last finished the course of 
 Sunday Services, and turned back to Advent again — as he cannot 
 but feel in his heart that the blame rests not with the Church, 
 but with himself, so he may understand that the remedy also, by 
 God's grace, depends on himself, and it is not too late. The 
 
CHURCH PRIVILEGES. 277 
 
 Almighty, by sparing you to another Advent, gives you clearly 
 and distinctly to know, that He will yet accept and pardon you, 
 if you will yet turn to Him, and begin at last to make the right 
 use of these inestimable privileges. He will presently begin to 
 warn you again, by the course of Sunday Lessons and Collects, 
 of His speedy coming in His glorious Majesty to judge both the 
 quick and the dead. He will then assure you, week after week, 
 of His Son's unspeakable condescension in taking our nature 
 upon Him, and doing and suffering all for us, even to the death of 
 the Cross. By the Easter and Whitsuntide Services, He will 
 afterwards teach you how to glorify Him who died for you, and now 
 reigns over you ; and how to submit yourselves to His gracious 
 Spirit, come down in His absence to bring you nearer and nearer 
 to Him. Then by the course of the Services after Trinity Sun- 
 day, even to this time next year (should it please Him that any 
 of us live so long). He will instruct you what fruit of good works 
 He expects of those who have been so highly favoured. It rests 
 with yourselves, my Christian brethren, to resolve whether this 
 course of divine instruction shall pass away unimproved by you, 
 and you remain as barren as in other seasons, or no. But be 
 assured of this, that you cannot remain where you are. Every 
 day that you do not mend, with such helps to amendment offered 
 you, in the sight of God you become worse. 
 
 Above all, beware of neglecting these blessings out of the 
 foolish and profane notion (the ruin, alas! of too many) that they 
 are always within your reach, that you may avail yourselves of 
 them to repent when you will. You cannot insure your life nor 
 your reason for one hour ; how then can you reckon on any 
 future repentance ? The great Advent is coming on : your time 
 is short, your work exceeding hard ; a day lost, may be the loss 
 of Eternity. One way only is safe : " Behold, now is the ac- 
 cepted time : behold, now is the day of salvation." 
 
SERMON CC. 
 
 CHRISTIAN ENERGY. 
 
 1 Cor. xvi. 13. 
 " Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong." 
 
 These words are addressed to Christians, as the soldiers of Jesus 
 Christ. They are such as one might imagine a wise commander 
 speaking to his men on the night before a battle, that they might 
 rise up in the morning full of considerate courage, and steadily 
 resolved to do all their duty, cost what it might. " Watch ye, 
 stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong." 
 
 Every one must feel, on merely reading or hearing this, how 
 truly great and noble the character is which St. Paul here re- 
 commends us to imitate ; how a person, who should diligently 
 practise this rule, would, as it were, walk on high, and though he 
 lived in the world, would be above the reach of its storms and 
 temptations. 
 
 And we shall feel this yet more strongly, when we recollect, 
 besides, what sort of a person it was who wrote these words, 
 and how completely all his life was spent, after he became a 
 Christian, in practising the lesson they teach. It was the 
 Apostle St. Paul ; of whom it might be said, more truly perhaps 
 than of any other Saint either in the Old or New Testament, 
 that his whole life, after God had once called him, was a life of 
 continual watchfulness. He never seems to have forgotten, for 
 
CHRISTIAN ENERGY. 279 
 
 a moment, that he was a Christian. Whatever he did and suf- 
 fered, was done and suffered quite in a different way, and with a 
 different mind, from what it would have been if he had not been 
 a disciple of Jesus Christ. When any thing happened to him, 
 whether pleasant or unpleasant, the first question in his mind 
 seems always to have been, not " how can I make this turn to 
 my own profit, or my own enjoyment }" but " how must I act, 
 to make the most of it for the glory of my Master and Saviour, 
 and the good of the souls committed to my charge ?" You can- 
 not doubt, upon a little consideration, that such a man had found 
 out the true secret of happiness, as far as it is to be had in this 
 life. 
 
 Now then, if there be any truth in the Bible, it is in the power 
 of every one of us, to be this great and noble character ; to be 
 like St. Paul, if he will. His example is not set before us merely 
 like a beautiful picture, for us to look at and admire, and wish we 
 were like it. But it is the very pattern which our Blessed Lord 
 has set before us, to help us in copying His own divine example. 
 We are to be followers of Him, as he was of Christ. 
 
 This is not the less true, because the generality of Christian 
 people seem to think so little of it. The world, they seem to 
 take it for granted, is so altered since St. Paul's time, that the 
 rules by which he conducted himself will no more do for us. 
 We praise and admire him, but excuse ourselves, though we follow 
 examples and indulge desires most completely opposite to his. 
 
 He tells us, for example, that it made little difference to him 
 whether he was rich or poor. "I know both how to be abased 
 and I know how to abound. I have learned, in whatsoever state 
 I am, therewith to be content." How many of us have heard 
 and read these words over and over again, and have admired 
 St. Paul, and praised him, for the temper of mind he shows in 
 thera, without a single thought of practising the same ; without 
 once considering, that if St. Paul was thus careless about money, 
 it little becomes them to be so anxious about it, as they allow 
 themselves to be every day, and all day long ! 
 
 It is indeed a shameful and painful recollection, how con- 
 tinually we live in the midst of noble and good examples, yet 
 how little we profit by them. Our only comfort should be, that 
 it is not yet, by God's mercy, too late to amend. We may this 
 
 u 2 
 
280 CHRISTTAN ENERGY. 
 
 very day, if we will, begin accustoming ourselves, from time to 
 time, to remember in our daily doings the high thoughts and 
 rules of conduct which we read of in the Bible. 
 
 We have all of us, I suppose, at times, had pious thoughts and 
 good resolutions in our minds. We have wished to serve God 
 as faithfully as St. Paul : to be as contented and cheerful as he 
 was, and to care as little for the world. Perhaps we have even 
 tried, for a time, to live in earnest by his rule : to make the most 
 of ourselves, and all that we had, for the honour and service of 
 our God. Although we are too soon tired of such steady and 
 devout purposes, yet if we have ever fairly tried, I am sure we 
 must feel and own, that we were never so happy as in those 
 hours. We may have been more gay and mirthful, but we were 
 never so happy ; for we never were, we never could be, so sure 
 that God approved of our enjoyments, and that they would not 
 leave a sting behind them when they were gone. 
 
 What hinders us from recalling those happy hours ? from 
 lengthening them to days and weeks and months and years ? 
 from keeping them by us all our lives long, to store us with plea- 
 sant recollections for ever and ever ? It is only making up our 
 minds to live steadily by faith in things not seen ; to deny our 
 wandering thoughts resolutely and manfully ; and our happiness 
 is in our power. We may, by God's grace and mercy, begin it 
 any hour, any minute, we choose. 
 
 Any hour, any minute, we may begin "watching ourselves," 
 considering our own words, purposes, and actions, like men who 
 are awake and alive to what is passing around them ; who know 
 they cannot stay where they are, and are desirous to make sure 
 of going the right way. 
 
 I do not say that this will be altogether pleasant, or, for a long 
 time, easy. Most men have lived, hitherto, so much at random, 
 that it must cost them some trouble to reuse themselves, and re- 
 flect in earnest on what they are doing, and where their journey 
 will end. They are like persons only half awake, who can hardly, 
 for a while, be brought to attend even to their most necessary 
 cares and employments. But to go on thus in spite of warning, 
 is indeed both childish and unchristian. It is childish careless- 
 ness of what ought to be dearest to them — the happy place 
 which God offers them in Heaven, and which they are throwing 
 
CHRISTIAN ENERGY. 281 
 
 away for want of firmness in keeping their attention that way. 
 It is most unchristian ingratitude for the great mercies which 
 Almighty God has bestowed on them, not so much as to cast 
 an eye towards the crown of glory which He holds out, promising 
 Himself to be " our shield, and our exceeding great reward." 
 
 But, it will be fancied, " This rule is too hard and strict for 
 every- day life. It will take away all the pleasant freedom of 
 thought, and happy carelessness, which made our childish days so 
 delightful. Surely, if we mean no harm, we may enjoy ourselves 
 without the trouble of considering whether we actually mean well 
 or no." 
 
 So it may seem beforehand. But if you would give God's com- 
 mand a fair trial, you would find it very far otherwise. The 
 watchfulness and wakefulness which He enjoins, does not mean 
 that you should be always in a state of painful alarm. At first, 
 of course, it must be an eflfbrt. but the longer and more regularly 
 you go on with it, the easier and more natural will you find it. 
 He will help you to the habit of watching yourself, and restrain- 
 ing your inclinations, more and more entirely : as a good rider 
 restrains an unruly horse that he is used to. 
 
 One reason why watching and controlling one's self seems to 
 most men a hard and painful task is, the irregular and unsteady 
 way in which it is too commonly practised. Those who have 
 long done it most efi"ectually, are least seen to do it : their good- 
 ness sits easy upon them. But those who do it only now and 
 then, and then suffer themselves to fall into their former careless- 
 ness, are of course discontented and uncomfortable in themselves, 
 and can afford but little temptation to others to follow their ex- 
 ample. The way for them to mend themselves, and to do good 
 to their neighbours, is to follow the second part of this apostolical 
 advice, and ^ot only to watch themselves continually, to be 
 always awake to their duty, but also "to stand fast in the faith, 
 to quit them like men, and be strong." In other words, not only 
 to think of their duty, but to do it without delay, as soon as ever 
 it is made known to them what God would have them to do. 
 
 " I made haste," say? the Psalmist, " and prolonged not the 
 time, to keep thy commandments." This is the only secret for 
 being watchful and comfortable at once. Once make up your 
 mind never to stand waiting and hesitating when your conscience 
 
282 CHRISTIAN ENERGY. 
 
 tells you -what you ought to do, and you have got the key to 
 every blessing that a sinner can reasonably hope for. Then you 
 may, by God's blessing, experience even in this world how true 
 those promises are, which are scattered up and down the Scrip- 
 tures, of the happy eflfects of Christian obedience; such, for in- 
 stance, as the following verses of the Proverbs of Solomon : 
 " My son, let not them depart from thine eyes : keep sound wis- 
 dom and discretion : so shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace 
 to thy neck. Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy 
 foot shall not stumble. When thou liest down, thou shalt not 
 be afraid : yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet. 
 Be not afraid of sudden fear, nor of the desolation of the wicked, 
 when it cometh. For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and 
 shall keep thy foot from being taken." 
 
 This delightful sense of God's presence and guardian care, 
 which in the common course of things accompanies our sincere 
 and steady endeavours to please Him, is surely enough, being 
 remembered, to overpower that common objection to Christian 
 obedience, that it brings with it a constant strain and weariness, 
 turning our thoughts at all times exactly the same way ; so that 
 it is supposed impossible, but that one should get more and more 
 tired of it. It cannot be altogether denied, that we must expect 
 to meet with something of weariness and painfulness, even in the 
 course of Christian love and duty. It is the condition of human 
 life ; a part of the cross appointed for us to bear in imitation of 
 Jesus Christ. It is in vain to think of escaping it, and happy 
 he who bears it best. But then it is equally plain, that when 
 once the fresh spirits of early youth are past, there is the same 
 weariness and painfulness to be looked for in every other service, 
 as well as in God's. All men have their dull and irksome hours 
 to endure : only he who stands fast in the faith, fiiKls them pass 
 more lightly over him than others, so far as he is more deeply 
 impressed with the remembrance of the presence of his Maker, 
 and the hope of eternal life. 
 
 Neither can a man have any idea, before he has tried, of the 
 constant variety which may be found, even in the soberest 
 exercise of our duty to God and man, in the quietest walks of 
 life. Suppose, for instance, a man only bound himself to recol- 
 lect, in all his dealings with others, that plain and easy rule. 
 
CHRISTIAN ENERGY. 283 
 
 which every child is acquainted with : " Whatsoever ye would that 
 men should do unto you, do ye even so to them." No two persons 
 that we meet with heing exactly like one another, it is evident 
 our conduct to each would be different ; and here would be one 
 continual exercise of our Christian wisdom — to consider how 
 we might best suit the reasonable wishes of each out of so many 
 various persons, some more and some less near to us. Still 
 further ; scarce any person could be found, whose condition and 
 circumstances are exactly the same for two days together ; so 
 that here, too, will be continual employment for our discretion and 
 Christian charity, in changing the manner of our kindness 
 according to the change of their wishes and necessities. It is 
 easy then to see, that we need not be afraid of want of variety, in 
 the happy art of keeping God's commandments. Once set your 
 heart upon that task, and you will not long complain of its being 
 dull and wearisome, or of its keeping you too much under 
 restraint, and checking the natural spring and freedom of our 
 affections. 
 
 Christian watchfulness, then, and standing fast in the faith, 
 would effectually overcome those inward feeUngs, which stand 
 most in the way of our perfection and happiness. Join to them 
 Christian courage, which is the virtue next recommended by 
 St. Paul, — " Quit you like men, be strong," — and you will be 
 equally armed against the worst of those outward difficulties, which 
 are sure, from time to time, to embarrass and distress you. You 
 will not be moved by foolish objections, or apprehensions merely 
 relating to this world, from doing your very best for yourself 
 and others. " What will people say or think of me ? how will 
 they bear to have such and such things said and done, so 
 different from what they are accustomed to say and do ?" — these 
 are questions very proper to be asked and considered, when we 
 are considering how we may employ what God has given us to 
 the best purposes. But they are not considerations which ought 
 to frighten or stop us, when we are once convinced that saying 
 or doing so and so is on higher accounts our duty. We may 
 safely follow St. Peter's example, and make appeal, on such 
 points as these, to the common sense of the world itself. 
 " Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you 
 more than unto God, judge ye." If we show ourselves steady 
 
284 CHRISTIAN ENEKGY. 
 
 and resolute in the sober discharge of our duty, we shall find 
 ourselves not only more comfortable within, but more quiet also 
 from without ; less disturbed by other people, than if we were 
 unsteady in our good meanings, and only went half way in 
 religion. " Let men alone, and they will let you alone," was 
 a wise and kind warning ; to all those, especially (and they are not 
 a few), who are apt to look anxiously around, and watch what 
 their neighbours are thinking of them. 
 
 It may sometimes happen, that though a man is certain by 
 God's word what it is his duty to do, he shall find himself 
 puzzled and embarrassed by the difliculties and objections of 
 other men, not because he fears they may be true, but because 
 he cannot find proper words, or distinct thoughts, to answer and 
 silence them with. Something of this sort appears to have 
 befallen the prophet Jeremiah, when " the word of the Lord was 
 made unto him a reproach and a derision daily." He said to 
 himself, " I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more 
 in His Name." There was the temptation ; but the sense of 
 duty, duty which had become natural to him by long practice, 
 veiy soon prevailed against it. " His word," says he, " was in 
 mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was 
 weary with forbearing, and I could not stay." A resolute, 
 practical sense of duty is the one thing needful in such a case. 
 It is not possible, perhaps, to help being annoyed, if you find men 
 disliking or mocking you, either for doing your duty, or for some 
 indifferent trifle in the manner of your doing it. But it is very 
 possible, and the only safe and comfortable way, to apply your- 
 self to the same duty the more diligently for all their scorn and 
 dislike : and to many people it is surely rather an advantage than 
 not, to have little power of talking well on serious subjects. If 
 they had that power, it is but too likely they would content 
 themselves with merely talking. This ought to satisfy them 
 and make them thankful in their want of it ; only taking care to 
 glorify God the more constantly by their lives, the less they are 
 able to glorify Him with their lips. 
 
 It seems, then, there is no danger, either from within or from 
 without, which we may not overcome, if we will, by Christian 
 watehfulness, perseverance, and courage. For if ridicule and 
 mockery can be so overcome, we may-be sure every thing else 
 
CHRISTIAN ENERGY. 285 
 
 may. And all the excuses which we daily hear in the mouths of 
 others, and perhaps still oftener make to ourselves, of the world 
 being too hard for us, though we wish to keep the command- 
 ments, — come in the end to no better than this : That we should 
 be very well content to serve God, if it cost us little or nothing. 
 If you would not die in such a temper as this towards your 
 Father and your Saviour, there is but one thing for you to do. 
 Though that which makes you sin be your right eye — the thing 
 you are most used to and love best in this world — you must pluck 
 it out and cast it from you : " For it is better for thee that one 
 of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should 
 be cast into hell." 
 
SERMON CCI. 
 
 THE BOOKS OPENED'. 
 
 Rev. XX. 12. 
 
 " I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God ; and the books were 
 opened : and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life : and the 
 dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, 
 according to their works." 
 
 This is that awful scene to which all things here are silently 
 going on. Days, and months, and years, and generations, and 
 ages, pass away, and still it comes nearer and nearer : every night 
 that we lie down in our beds, and every morning that we rise up, 
 is a kind of step in that unceasing journey, whether we mark it 
 or no : it is so much irrecoverably gone of the time and power 
 we had to prepare us for that fearful meeting with our Judge. 
 St. John saw it but in vision, but that vision was an earnest and 
 sure token of what both he and we shall one day see with our 
 eyes. We shall see it as surely and more clearly than we now 
 see any thing here : the bright and glorious Throne, and Christ 
 sitting upon it ; the Son of God, who is also Son of Man, with 
 that glorious Body which rose from the dead, and which His 
 Disciples then saw and touched ; the Dead, of all times and 
 nations, great and small, good and evil, believers and unbelievers, 
 standing before Him ; they who hid, as it were, their faces from 
 
 ' Preaclied shortly before a Confirmation. 
 
THE BOOKS OPENED. 287 
 
 Him, when seen on earth, or from the Church with which He 
 promises to be,— they shall see Him face to face, and shall look 
 on Him whom they have pierced. We shall see Him, and we 
 shall feel that He is looking on us ; and it will make all the 
 difference to us for ever, whether His eyes shall then be turned 
 towards us in wrath or in mercy. 
 
 All that God does with us here, and all that He calls on us to 
 do for ourselves, — our Baptism, our Confirmation, our Prayers 
 and Sacraments, our Churches and Holydays, our Bishops and 
 Priests, and all our means of grace, the Word of God also in His 
 Holy Scriptures, — all were given us for this one purpose, to make 
 us ready for that last great unknown hour. If we would follow 
 the guidance of the Bible, especially of our Lord's own words in 
 the New Testament, we shall never allow the thought of that day 
 to be long out of our minds. We shall think of it in the morn- 
 ing when we arise, and in the evening when we lie down, and 
 in the day when we are at our work, and in the night as we 
 lie awake on our beds. We shall be glad or sorry, pleased or 
 troubled, as our conscience tells us that we are, or are not, going 
 on in a way to prepare us for that day. 
 
 And to help us in this continual recollection of the end, we 
 shall do well to represent to ourselves those most awful pictures 
 of the Day of Judgment, of which there are so many in the Holy 
 Scriptures. We know what sort of thing a judgment is here 
 on earth : let us imagine something of the same kind, but infi- 
 nitely awful and overpowering, at the last day : the Judgment- 
 seat, not on earth, but in the clouds of Heaven ; and sitting 
 upon it no earthly judge, but our Lord Jesus Christ in His 
 glorious Body, wherewith He rose from the dead; around Him 
 no mortal guards and officers, but the Holy Angels by thousands 
 and tens of thousands ; before Him not one or two criminals 
 charged with one or two off'ences, more or less grave, but the 
 Dead, small and great, and all those also, who shall be found 
 alive on the earth in that generation ; not that kind of stir around 
 Him, which takes place in a city or town on the arrival of an 
 earthly judge, but the very Heaven that we see, and the earth 
 that we live on, flying away before His face, so that no place 
 shall be found for them ; the world and all things therein burned 
 up. We shall be there, my Christian brethren, every one of us. 
 
288 THE BOOKS OPENED. 
 
 as surely as now we are here : our eyes and ears will be wit- 
 nesses of those terrible sights and sounds, beyond what now our 
 hearts can imagine. 
 
 And now take notice of what follows next. As in earthly 
 trials one most necessary part is the opening and reading of the 
 written testimonies, so in this last and most dreadful trial both 
 St. John and Daniel saw " the Books opened," that is, the records 
 ■which Almighty God keeps, out of which we are to be judged. 
 For as He, our Maker and Preserver, we are sure, knows 
 all that we say, do, or think ; it is all present always to Him, 
 He cannot, as we do, forget it after a time ; — so the Scriptures 
 plainly teach, that what God alone now knows concerning us. 
 He will then declare to all the world. He " will make manifest 
 the counsels of men's hearts." "He will bring to light the hidden 
 things of darkness ;" His fire will " try our work, of what sort 
 it is." 
 
 More particularly we are instructed, that in this Book of God 
 are "written, day by day, all our members ;'' all the limbs of our 
 body, and powers of our soul, and, no doubt, all the other good 
 gifts and talents which He has intrusted us with. He keeps 
 account of all, and will call us to account for all. 
 
 Again, in this Book are entered both the insults of His open 
 enemies, and the hypocritical unfaithful doings of His own people. 
 As to His enemies, " Their wine," He says, " is the poison of 
 dragons, and the cruel venom of asps : is not this laid up in store 
 with Mb, and sealed up among My treasures ? To Me belongeth 
 vengeance and recompense :" that is, whoever speaks against 
 God and His Church, openly taking the side of the world and the 
 devil, he will find hereafter that all his words were treasured up. 
 And so, too, with the hypocritical and untrue among God's own 
 people. Of such God says by the Prophet Isaiah, "It is written 
 before Me, I will recompense, even recompense into their bosom, 
 your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith 
 the Lord." And Jeremiah, speaking to all those who plunge 
 themselves wilfully in deadly sin after they have been once received 
 among God's own people, says; "Though thou wash thee with 
 nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked be- 
 fore Me, saith the Lord God." And in another place, " The sin 
 of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a 
 
THE BOOKS OPENED. 289 
 
 diamond." As if, though Almighty God keeps indeed a record 
 for all sins, He set down in darker letters than usual the back- 
 slidings of His own people. 
 
 Just as in other places we are given to understand, that in His 
 mercy He keeps a special account of those who are faithful and 
 true to Him in bad times. When the proud are called happy, 
 and they that work wickedness are set up, " then they that fear 
 the Lord speak often one to another, and the Lord hearkens and 
 hears them, and a book of remembrance is written before Him 
 for them that fear the Lord and think upon His Name." He 
 " tells their Sittings," their anxieties and trembling care : " He 
 puts their tears into His bottle :" " these things," especially, 
 " are noted in His Book." 
 
 Once more : among the matters which are more particularly 
 recorded in that fearful Book of Account, we cannot doubt that 
 the vows are set down, which we make from time to time, either 
 in general to serve the Lord, or to discharge our duty in any 
 particular calling or station. No question, for example, but our 
 baptismal vows are there, as well as the manner in which we 
 have kept them. Not one of all the millions of souls, who have 
 been made Members of Christ, since the Holy Ghost first set up 
 the Kingdom of Heaven in the world, is left out in that unerring 
 Register : both the debt is there, and also how we have paid it. 
 
 No doubt also that the same leaves contain our repetition 
 and renewal of those our first vows, whether in Confirmation 
 or in the Holy Communion. When, as we expect in the course 
 of a few days, those young persons who have been invited, and 
 are prepared, come before the Bishop to receive Christ's bless- 
 ing through him, and are asked, " Do you here in God's and 
 His Church's Presence, renew solemnly your baptismal promise 
 and vow }" and when they shall answer, as the Church bids 
 them, " I do ;" we are to make no question but that this their 
 answer is heard in Heaven, is set down there, is registered 
 either against or for them, will be remembered there, will appear 
 and be recited on their trial in the great day. 
 
 So too, as often as we come to the Holy Communion, we 
 renew our vows, we pledge ourselves to lead a new life : and 
 every one of those promises, too, make sure of it, is written and 
 engraven on the leaves of that awful Book. So are the vows 
 
290 THE BOOKS OPENED. 
 
 people make in holy matrimony, engaging themselves to love 
 and cherish one another, and the woman besides to obey her 
 husband, and both promising entire faithfulness, and keeping 
 themselves only to one another, so long as they both shall live. 
 So are the Ordination vows of the Ministers of God ; and the 
 vows which kings make when they are crowned : and, in a word, 
 all solemn engagements which we enter into, calling God's 
 Name to witness. We shall hear of them all at the last day : 
 they will be read out of the Book, either to our everlasting peace, 
 or to our shame and everlasting contempt. 
 
 It concerns us, one and all, seriously to think of this, both 
 those who are to be confirmed, that they may say their appointed 
 words seriously in the fear of God, and those who have been 
 confirmed, that they may not consider what they then said 
 as having at all passed away, but may very often bethink them- 
 selves, that their promised vow stands as fresh and distinct in 
 God's Book, as if it were made but a moment ago. They may 
 have forgotten it, but He has not. Let them be for ever re- 
 membering it, if it is only to put themselves to shame with the 
 thought, how very unworthily and thoughtlessly they took, how 
 very imperfectly they have hitherto kept, those vows. Far better, 
 surelv, to go mourning all our days with such bitter recollection 
 of our faults, than go on quietly and easily through life, thinking 
 of other things, and find our broken and forgotten vows set 
 down against us in the Court of Heaven, in that hour when 
 there will be no more forgetting, no more hiding our face away, 
 either from ourselves or from the world, which has thought 
 perhaps so well of us, when we so little deserved it. 
 
 But besides these books, which contain all the doings of every 
 one of us, there is another, a more consoling part of -the Apos- 
 tle's vision : " Another Book was opened, which is the Book of 
 Life." We might have supposed, that in such an account no one 
 could at all come oflf clear, no one in such a trial stand upright : 
 but by the grace and merit of our Most Holy Saviour we 
 see that it is not so. Tliere is still a Book of Life, even though 
 in those other books all secret doings and thoughts are contained ; 
 there will be still some, in all a great multitude, found not 
 unworthy of everlasting life. 
 
 Of this Book, the lists which were kept of the children of 
 
THE BOOKS OPENED. 291 
 
 Israel were a kind of type or figure : and as it is mentioned in 
 Ezekiel of certain false Prophets, who tried to deceive God's 
 people during the captivity, that they should " not be written 
 in the writing of the house of Israel, neither should they enter 
 into the land of Israel ;" so we read of the heavenly Jerusalem, 
 "There shall in no wise enter into her any thing that defileth, 
 or worketh abomination, or maketh a lie : but they which are 
 written in the Lamb's Book of Life." 
 
 Now it appears from some Scriptures, that our names are en- 
 rolled in this happy and glorious Book, when we are made God's 
 own ; when we are joined as true members to Jesus Christ, 
 and in virtue of that heavenly union are admitted among His 
 chosen. His Elect People. For the expression, " having your 
 name in the Book of Life," is used more than once by our Lord 
 and His Apostles, as if it meant " being a Christian ;" " admitted 
 to Church Privileges, and not having forfeited them." Thus St. 
 Paul speaks of certain " women which had laboured with him in 
 the Gospel, with Clement also, and with other his fellow-labourers, 
 whose names are in the Book of Life." Did the Apostle mean 
 to say, that those of whom he was speaking were all sure, even 
 while they stayed here, of eternal salvation ? Such is not the way 
 of Holy Scripture ; it is not accustomed to speak so positively of 
 the living. It is much more according to the general course and 
 tenour of the Bible, and surely it were grace and glory unspeak- 
 able for any man, if we suppose these words to contain an assur- 
 ance from the Holy Ghost, that St. Clement and the rest were 
 then such as He delights to honour ; such that their place in the 
 Book of Life was not at that time at all doubtful. 
 
 Thus also our Lord, in two several places ; first, when the 
 Seventy returned with joy from the circuit on which He sent 
 them, pleased to think, that even the Devils were subject to them 
 through Christ's name. He bade them not so much rejoice in 
 this, " that the spirits were subject unto them," but " rather to 
 rejoice, because their names were written in Heaven." The 
 ground of their hope and joy was to be, not so much their extra- 
 ordinary gifts, as the ordinary privileges of a Christian, which 
 they were to enjoy in common with all members of the Kingdom 
 of Heaven. 
 
 The other place in which our Lord mentions the Book of Life 
 
292 THE BOOKS OPENED. 
 
 is in one of His letters to the Churches of Asia, in the Revela- 
 tion. " He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white 
 raiment ; and I will not blot his Name out of the Book of Life, 
 but will profess it before My Father and before His Angels." 
 By this verse it would seem, that a person's name may be blotted 
 out of the Book of Life after it is once in that Book : and it is 
 plain, from God's own word to Moses, what will blot it out. 
 Sin will do so, and nothing else. For when the people had 
 sinned grievously, and Moses in his great love had offered to be 
 made a kind of sacrifice for them, the Lord's own word is, 
 " Whosoever sinneth against Me, him will I blot out of Mr 
 Book." And David, in one of his prophetic Psalms, lays this 
 curse upon the impenitent persecutors ; " Let them be wiped out 
 of the Book of the Living, and not be written among the 
 righteous." 
 
 Now the serious thought here, the thought which nearly con- 
 cerns every one to lay deeply to heart, is this : That surely we 
 ourselves had once our name written in Heaven ; there was a 
 time when we may be quite certain, if we will believe the 
 Church, that our names were in the Book of Life. This we 
 are sure of, because the Church tells us in her rubric at the end 
 of the Baptismal Service, that " It is certain by God's word, that 
 all baptized infants, dying before they commit actual sin, are un- 
 doubtedly saved." They could not be saved unless their names 
 were in that Blessed Book ; but no doubt they were enrolled there, 
 when the children were admitted into God's kingdom by Holy 
 Baptism : just as persons' names are entered on the books of any 
 earthly society, when they become members of it. 
 
 Consider this thing well : whatever we are now, there surely 
 was once a time when our names were in the Book of Life ; 
 when, if it had pleased God to take us, our eternal salvation was 
 quite sure. If our condition be doubtful now, whose fault can it 
 be, so much as our own ? Other persons there may be within 
 the bounds of the Christian world, who have been from their 
 Baptism upward, outwardly, at least, without any means of 
 grace : but which of us can say anything of the kind ? Which of 
 us can say that he really had no fair chance of knowing some- 
 thing of the heavenly treasure committed to him, and of pre- 
 serving it, by God's grace, entire until the last day, had he only 
 
THE BOOKS OPENED. 293 
 
 cared as much for it, as we all naturally care for what we esteem 
 blessings in this world ? 
 
 Nay, we must be very strangely inattentive to what passes in 
 our own minds, if we do not by our own experience acknowledge 
 that we could have helped our wilful sins, each one of them sepa- 
 rately, if we would. And it is our wilful sins which blot our 
 name out of the Book of Life. In whatever degree we have 
 committed such, just so far we have reason to fear that the letters 
 there inscribed in remembrance of us have grown at least fainter 
 and fainter : and if we do not immediately turn and repent, who 
 knows how soon they may quite pass away, so that even the AU- 
 seein Eye may discern no trace of them ? 
 
 As long as we are in this world, we cannot read in this Book 
 of Life. The Almighty, in His wisdom and mercy, keeps it a 
 secret from us, not only whether other men's names are there, 
 but also to what degree our own transgressions have blotted out 
 our names. We have great reason to fear, that many persons* 
 names are blotted out, who are far indeed from imagining any 
 such thing. Who can tell how near he himself may have been, 
 or worse, may even now be, to that dreadful consummation ? 
 How near the next wilful sin may bring him to it ? Let us be 
 persuaded never more to trifle, as too many of us hitherto have 
 been doing, either with our dangers or with our blessings. 
 
 You especially, who are now to be confirmed, whose tender age 
 gives reason to hope that your names at least are yet in the 
 Book of Life, not blotted out by wilful and dehberate sin ; make up 
 your minds, I beseech you, while there is time, to keep them there 
 by cheerful obedience all the days of your life. If they are not 
 there at the last day, you know your sentence, it is too plain to 
 be doubted: "Whosoever is not found written in the Book of 
 Life shall be cast into the lake of fire :" "and there shall in no 
 wise enter into the heavenly city" any wilful sinner, "but they 
 that are written in the Lamb's Book of Life." 
 
 If our sins have made our names faint and indistinct there, 
 there is a remedy, blessed be God : the waters of repentance and 
 the blood of the Cross will revive them, only let them be applied 
 speedily, and continued all the rest of our lives. But how much 
 better to have kept them, by God's grace, what the names of Chris- 
 
 VOL. VI. X 
 
294 THE BOOKS OPENED. 
 
 tian children we trust now are, bright and fresh ! How much 
 better, without loss of time, to remember your Creator in the 
 days of your youth : to see to it immediately, that your wedding 
 garment, put on you at Baptism, be pure and clean, and so to 
 come at once to the King's feast, and never forsake it I 
 
 END OF VOL. VI. 
 
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